Customer Reviews

The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins in Paperback

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I wish I had read the original book instead of this one, or at least read it first. The original had a charm, in both words and illustrations, that this revised version lacks. You can view excerpts from both the original and the revised versions on this website to see what I mean. They begin to show up as soon as the first page.

This revised version changes or adds some things to reflect discoveries and technologies since the original book was written. But it also changes the caliber of the story-telling that gave the orignal charm and clarity. The reviser has written 4 new chapters, three of which become the final chapters of the new book. In thsoe chapters Stannard has almost ignored the style and objectives of Gamow's original. Gamow attempted to present complex physics ideas to the interested reader in ways that might be called "spoon feeding". There was an effort to inject analogies and examples that help the reader understand the concepts. In the newly written chapters it seems like Stannard decided he didn't have time for that, or perhaps didn't have the understanding or confidence to follow through on the original approach. The difference in approach is obvious, and not for the better.

The famous physicist and excellent popularizer of science George Gamow wrote the original version of this book "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" in 1965. Since then the understanding of the physical world from its smallest to largest entities has shown much progress. Thus the book, which was once one of the best classics in the genre of physics popularizations, needed a revision to continue its role of introducing the modern knowledge of fundamental physics to laypersons.

Russell Stannard, an able popularizer of science, courageously tackled this difficult problem of modernizing "Mr Tompkins." Four chapters out of 17 are entirely new. Old chapters describe the theory of relativity, quantum physics and atomic and nuclear physics through Mr Tompkins' adventurous dreams and a series of lectures given by "the professor" to the lay-audience. Tompkins is among the listeners of the lectures, gets acquainted with the professor's daughter Maud, and . . . Maud's look, hairstyle and dresses in illustrations and the episode of romance have also been modernized. The new chapters treat black holes, a high-energy accelerator ("atom smasher") and the results of physics gotten by it, quarks and the Standard Model, and the relation between the life of the Universe and particle physics.

Even the old chapters have been rewritten considerably. For example, Chapter 2 newly tells about an experimental evidence by neutral pion decay for the constancy of light speed, demonstration of relativistic time dilation at CERN by the change of life time of muons traveling at high speed, etc. The "twin paradox" of relativity has also been added in Chapter 2, and its further explanation is given in Chapter 3 (here is a minor but confusing error of "she" and "he" wrongly interchanged). I like this addition very much, because the "paradox" bothered me even after I had learned the theory of relativity at a university. (For a more complete explanation of the twin paradox, I recommend Max Born's "Einstein's Theory of Relativity" to readers of an inquiring mind.)

Being one of old Japanese fans of Tompkins, I feel a little sorry that the name of Hideki Yukawa has disappeared from the present version. Surely, his meson theory of nuclear forces became outdated, because constituents of nucleons and mesons, i.e., quarks and gluons, had been discovered. However, Yukawa's theory was a strong driving force for the birth of particle physics, and a good place where his name can be mentioned remains in Chapter 13 (in the original version it appeared in a later chapter, which has been omitted in the present version).

I highly recommend this book especially to young people who wish to major in physical sciences. There are a small number of simple equations of relativity and formulas of particle reactions. For those who are eager to learn about mysteries of the micro world and the universe, however, the presence of these would not be any hindrance to the enjoyment of the book but rather be an attractive feature. Some of old fans of Tompkins would also read the new version to welcome Stannard's good job.

The results of many of the theories of modern physics are often very hard to grasp since they operate on such a different scale from most people's everyday lives. This book solves that problem by tinkering with the physical constants of the universe to bring them into the realm of human experience: the theory of relativity is described through a narrative set in a universe in which the speed of light is only 30 miles per hour, the topology of space is explained using a universe which is only a few hundred yards in length, and the complex interactions of subatomic particles are narrated from the points of view of the particles themselves. While the social and emotional struggles of quarks and leptons may not give the reader nearly as much mathematical rigor as other overviews of modern physics, they are certainly much more entertaining and provide an intuitive grasp even for readers who don't understand the underlying theories discussed.

This is a great book for anyone interested in modern physics, and a terrific introduction for junior high or high school students who might have the opportunity to study physics later in life.

My introduction to the world of the mild-mannered bank clerk with an interest in modern Physics came through copies of the original 1940s books rescued from a school library "disposal" pile. Unlike the school librarian I treasured those books, which presented hard science in a humorous, accessible way, and learned a lot from them.

George Gamow brought his original material up to date for "Mr Tompkins in Paperback" shortly before his death in 1968. However, since then Physics has moved on still further, and a new update was appropriate. Russell Stannard took on the challenge, and has done a superb job.

The new version brings both the science and the charming human back story fully up to date, and also addresses some inconsistencies in the earlier text and illustrations caused by their derivation from a group of separate magazine articles.
The books tackles all the main areas of modern Physics, from relativity to particle physics. Each topic is presented by both a serious (but straightforward) lecture text, and also by analogies in a dream experienced by one off the main characters. The two reinforce one another, and should leave the reader with a good basic understanding of all the key concepts. Familiarity with basic arithmetic and elementary concepts of classical physics are the only prerequisites, but the text should also be enjoyable for those with greater background knowledge.

I am very glad to see this classic developed for a new generation, and thoroughly recommend it.

This book was an excellent followup of the first. The old being made many years before this one had some holes in it but this new one fills all of them in. I would recomend this to anyone who read the first or to anyone interested in quantum phycis.

I normally do not like to read, but i didn't mind reading this. It only took a week, which is good for someone who does not like to read. Never before had I had such an incredible grasp of physics. This really helped to understand the concept of space-time and other areas. This is Gamow's best and everyone is encouraged to to read it. Take it from someone who does not read often. For those of you who may be misunderstanding the concepts and experiments in physics, this book will help you. It mentions a topic more than once and allows one to understand it. Thanks Mr. Gamow for writing this book. I would also like to thank my physic's teacher, Mr.Mike Lanham of Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia, for developing love and passion of physics and reading!

THE NEW WORLD OF MR. TOMPKINS by George Gamow, and revised by Russell Stannard, is 258 pages long and is printed on off-white paper. There is a ten page glossary defining words such as "momentum" and "quark." There are 45 ink drawings, many of which feature Mr. Tompkins, his fiancée Maud, and Maud's father a physics professor. For example, one of the drawings teaches relativity by disclosing a bicycle rider cycling near the speed of light, and flattened because of this high speed (in a town where the speed of light is about 25 miles per hour). Another drawing shows a small closed universe (and a smaller planet), where you can toss a book into outer space, and where the book will return from the other side of the planet after a few hours.

Generally, the layout takes the following form. One chapter will contain a lecture by the professor. While the next chapter will contain Mr. Tompkin's dream, where he is in a fantastic land where the theory from the lecture is demonstrated. For example, in an early chapter, we find Mr. Tompkins in a land where the speed of light is only 25 miles per hour, and where bicycle riders appear to be flattened, when viewed by bystanders on the sidewalk. In another chapter, we find Maud and the professor inside a glass of a beverage, watching molecules of water whiz by, bumping into microscopic chunks of barley, and admiring the orderly array of water molecules in a nearby ice cube. This particular chapter illustrates Maxwell's Demon, and teaches the second law of thermodynamics. Maxwell's Demon can best be explained, or supplemented, by a Maxwell's Demon computer game that is easily accessed for free on the internet. It consists of fast-moving red dots and slow-moving blue dots, distributed evenly inside a rectangular box. The operator (your child) can operate a gate that separates the two halves of the box, eventually resulting in all the fast dots being located in one side, and the slow dots in the other side.

The book is best read to children by an adult who has taken college physics and is able to explain the stories. Now, if only there could be another Mr. Tompkins storybook that illustrates Newtonian physics. FIVE STARS.

I really enjoy learning about relativity, quantum and just modern physics in general so I read The New World of Mr. Tompkins, Gamow and Stannard. This is a revision of the original edition titled Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland. A few chapters have been added and some conclusions drawn between the relationship of the universe, the theory of special relativity, the quantum mechanical theory and the structure of the atom. As I read through the book, I found it making most of these `hard to understand' theories very much simplified. There were some parts that I felt were unimportant or still not so clear, but overall I though it did an excellent job in dumbing down the material for the reader. I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. This piece is mainly a narrative of Mr. Tompkins, a banker that attends lectures on modern physics at the local university. Due to the material covered and his perceived lack of understanding he has dreams where these principles are experienced rather than just intellectually understood. When he awakens he finds himself in other worlds where the different topics of the lectures are apparent on a `human' sized scale. He sees length contraction, time dilation and the twin paradox. He experiences a closed universe, the big crunch and black holes. There is a quantum jungle with uncertainty, interference and diffraction. He also becomes an electron where he ionically and metallically bonds, has spin-up or spin-down and annihilates. Maxwell's Demon makes an appearance as they discuss the second law of thermodynamics and probabilities. There are many theories that are experienced in a fun way as the reader follows Mr. Tompkins through these many dream sequences and he learns about the underlying physics that govern the universe in which we live.

The original version of this book (actually written by George Gamow) was recommended by my college astronomy professor. This book is the revised version, as there have been many, many changes to our knowledge of astronomy and physics since the 1960's. The book is interesting, fun to read, and closely follows Gamow's style. While you may not fully understand a certain concept from the chapter where it is introduced (like time/space relativity), you get more information and examples in later chapters that help to get the big picture. It is recommended for 11 year-olds and up, but most adults interested in physics would benefit from reading this. There are some math equations, of course, but they are there mostly for the person who needs to know why and how scientists make their deductions, and do not necessarily take away from the concepts if you don't understand them.

"The New World of Mr.Tompkins" is I think, a really interesting fabulous book. George Gamow uses a character Mr.Tompkins an creates an interesting world, at the same time increasing the reader's knowledge and interest in Physics. You can clearll imagine as you are travelling with Mr. Tompkins and the book really makes Physics fun for you.

Mr.Tompkins and George Gamow transforms Physics into a fun interesting subject while really teaching you the mechanisms of Physics and going in Quite deep into the world of Physics.It will spark your imagination to look at things with different perspectives. It talks about quarks, Einstein's theory of Relativity, Speed of Light, Closed Universe,space warps, the Quantum World and lots more!!

I would definately recomend this book to everyone. From people that are really interested in Physics to the people who are a little reluctant to read anything about Physics. this is the book that will wrap you up into the world of Physics.