Buy new:
$27.03
FREE delivery: Thursday, April 25 on orders over $35.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: WildeWestMercantile
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, April 25 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 22 hrs 5 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$27.03 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$27.03
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE delivery Wednesday, April 24 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 6 hrs 20 mins
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Nice clean copy with no highlighting or writing. We take pride in our accurate descriptions. Satisfaction Guaranteed.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback

4.5 out of 5 stars 188

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$27.03","priceAmount":27.03,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"27","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"03","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"w2S%2F7kA0pdnQwQbVz96T2QSgo%2FXIQ5Xi92N5KKBEDyqshn9iQ0OYRfGU01yUBKsyy%2FDKUcNQiq9l8jlwmyrcmLHhmEXaJCILySbc2X%2B5um9Y1w85U6%2BmVwgXYX8cE9lr%2FVrjdzxyGJ21ztjcKs%2FQ0FgWsFGgtrak8WmUGZ4YvJL3Ntb6IRreLT74jLKjHzeq","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$9.94","priceAmount":9.94,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"94","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"w2S%2F7kA0pdnQwQbVz96T2QSgo%2FXIQ5XidF0xeEIRZdPMn2LjQ5GzfChEqjFkrJBEFHWsmH%2BzzNOqys3E144119fuxLzjGJDqjIwj8tOza60iLlpsUlXx0EaF98OowJjOr9nVXggyRUrf4axyrf2h5CpFT4u0QrgPUXJd9WbgA727HaEbDWXeowzziiO2FXt6","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Mr Tompkins has become known and loved by many thousands of readers (since his first appearance over fifty years ago) as the bank clerk whose fantastic dreams and adventures lead him into a world inside the atom. George Gamow's classic provides a delightful explanation of the central concepts in modern physics, from atomic structure to relativity, and quantum theory to fusion and fission. Roger Penrose's new foreword introduces Mr Tompkins to a new generation of readers, and reviews his adventures in the light of current developments in physics today.

Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

$27.03
Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 25
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by WildeWestMercantile and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
$11.59
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24
Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
$28.99
Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Not only entertaining; the ordinary reader can learn from it a great deal about sub-atomic particles, electrons, neutrons and the rest, and the strange rules which govern their behaviour.' The Observer

'Will vastly fascinate the whimsical, and is also entirely scientific.' Scientific American

'Enthusiastically recommended to both scientific and general readers.' The Guardian

Book Description

George Gamow's classic provides a delightful explanation of the central concepts in modern physics, from atomic structure to relativity, and quantum theory to fusion and fission.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press (Canto Imprint) (March 26, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 186 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0521447712
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0521447713
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.63 x 8.46 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 188

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
George Gamow
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
188 global ratings
very nice to read
5 Stars
very nice to read
This is very classic book, very nice to read. just loving it.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2023
These are famous. And they should be.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2013
I know very little about physics but this book really opened my eyes. A friend recommended it to me and I have no regrets about buying it. It helps explain things in very human terms that are easy to understand, and helps you to see how truly amazing our universe is.
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018
This breaks down complex physics concepts to a conceptual level so that most people can understand it. Great for getting a conceptual overview. It introduces a wide variety of subjects in a fun and informative way. It is a good starting point which would allow people to then go deeper with more advanced texts. I read it in college while taking quantum mechanics and it was wonderful. I teach students now, and suggest it to all my undergraduate students who are starting out. It really makes relativity understandable and would be great for introductory class like Physics 2.
4 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2010
George Gamow, an absolute physics legend of the mid-twentieth century, has a classic here with Mr. Tompkins in Paperback. The book covers many of the things that you'd like to know about physics and the physical world (but may have been afraid to ask); and covers them through the prose of the affable Mr. Tompkins. Mr. Tompkins keeps the book moving from topic to topic as he gets his education in physics, and all the while the reader finds him- or herself (of course) getting the same education. In this way, Mr. Tompkins is a narrative device to make learning physics non-threatening. A must read for those interested in learning about physics, those who know physics (as Gamow is a famous personality in the history of physics), and those who just want a good read.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014
The book arrived in a timely manner and was a great read! It gives the reader a since of being in the quantum world of atoms, and introduces some of the most important figures in modern physics through Mr. Tompkins dreams as he sleeps through the professors lectures. Then the actual lecture that he missed is covered in the proceeding chapter. This is the most unique book that I have read in a very long time.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2013
A great explanation - in layman's terms - of quantum physics and the theory of relativity. I wish that I had been assigned to read this when I was in college - the subject would have made much more sense to me.
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2014
Mr Tompkins in Paperback
A very advisable book. Written with great ingenious by one great physicist. It explains in a very simple way some of the ideas behind the modern physics following the life of one character (Mr Tompkins) that is involved with other characters representing some physicists that made the foundation of the modern physics, for example Pauli with some other name disguised as a minister of the electrons. Pleasant book.
One person found this helpful
Report
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2022
I was moved to get this book upon being reminded of how delightful I found Gamow's Mr. Tompkins stories back when I was a teen-ager in the Miocene. They introduced me relatively painlessly to a bunch of difficult concepts in the physical sciences and to some mathematical ways of looking at the world.
Despite the elegiac introduction by Roger Penrose, I found the book much less charming and engaging now at 76 than I did then at 16. Sixty years can do that! The stories now seemed quaint and dated--not so much their scientific content as their social mise-en-scene. Tompkins seems a bore; I couldn't help but wonder what Maud saw in him. And her scientific naivete, despite being the daughter of a professor of physics and thus presumably exposed to his work throughout her childhood, seems inexplicable, even if of a piece with her addiction to fashion magazines. (But then, Tompkins reads "Esquire." But I did too, in the days when it regularly published new work by important writers.)
The high point of the book for me was when the beetle-browed Edward Teller (whom Gamow calls "Tallerkin"--why? Was he afraid of libel? But the identity of the subject is certain) absent-mindedly begins to deliver a speech in Hungarian to an American audience. The content of the speech is totally in character for Teller: it's about how important he is.
2 people found this helpful
Report

Top reviews from other countries

Mariana Gabriela Sa
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in Spain on August 9, 2023
Well packed
K B Dixon
5.0 out of 5 stars These highly amusing adventures aid greatly to understanding Relativity and Quantum effects.
Reviewed in Canada on November 23, 2019
This classic by George Gamow combines his two illustrated tales of the curious bank clerk Mr Tompkins who decides to try and understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity and later the Quantum Theory. A tall order! He attends lectures at the local university given by an elderly grey-bearded eminent Professor yet is unable to stay awake … and finds himself in dreams accompanied by the Professor in worlds where such physical constants as the speed of light are changed so that the effects of Relativity become readily apparent. The adventures of Mr Tompkins were originally published in the magazine 'Discovery' and spurred the interest of many readers in physics – I read these magazines when I was 9 years old and much later as an adult wondered if one could still find them. Only a few years ago I discovered they were published as Mr Tompkins in Paperback by Cambridge University Press. Very little relevant knowledge has changed since they were written that would effect the situations described. I commend them unreservedly to the intellectually curious.
One person found this helpful
Report
J. Verbeek
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2020
Nice book, good package
George Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars An easy to read and entertaining book which explains the difficult ...
Reviewed in India on February 6, 2017
An easy to read and entertaining book which explains the difficult concepts of relativity and atomic structure. There is no dumbing down. The explanations are clearer than any others I have read.
2 people found this helpful
Report
Jean-Luc
5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone with curiosity in physics.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2015
Very well done and intriguing, this classic book (from some 60 years ago) really helps understand some very interesting things in physics. A must for anyone with curiosity in physics.