Gravitation
Gravitation by Misner, Thorne and Wheelerby Misner, Thorne and Wheeler
Shares rank 6 of 13 physics textbooks by recommenders
Classic general relativity textbook, often cited as one of the two great GR texts and useful for differential forms. Some say it shows its age.
Classic general relativity textbook, often cited as one of the two great GR texts and useful for differential forms. Some say it shows its age.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Standard general relativity textbook
“both classic GR textbooks, Misner, Thorne & Wheeler (1973) and Wald (1984) discuss Kruskal coordinates”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Black hole singularity is a surface not a point” “pretty standard GR textbook and it is often cited as a useful text on differential forms for math”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “The case against geometric algebra” “the two great classic GR textbooks”
Comment from 25 Aug 2026 in “Black hole singularity is a surface not a point”
Other physics textbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other physics textbooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Feynman Lectures on Physicsby Feynman, Leighton and Sands | 34 | 3 | 92% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Course of Theoretical Physicsby Landau and Lifshitz | 8 | 1 | 89% | 6 | — | — |
| Computational Physics (2nd Edition)by Giordano and Nakanishi | 7 | 1 | 88% | 1 | — | — |
| General Relativityby Robert Wald | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Gravitationby Misner, Thorne and WheelerThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a self demonstrating object”
“both classic GR textbooks, Misner, Thorne & Wheeler (1973) and Wald (1984) discuss Kruskal coordinates”
“the two great classic GR textbooks”
“MTW by now also shows it's age.”
“pretty standard GR textbook and it is often cited as a useful text on differential forms for math”
“they do not work remotely like any other simulation I've played with (e.g. Gravitation or Kerbal Space Program)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.