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| The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins in Paperback | 
 enlarge | Author: George Gamow
Creators: Russell Stannard, Michael Edwards
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $23.99
Buy Used: $4.24
You Save: $19.75 (82%)
New (15) Used (21) from $4.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 127569
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Upd
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 270
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0521639921
Dewey Decimal Number: 539
EAN: 9780521639927
ASIN: 0521639921
Publication Date: August 6, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Mr. Tompkins is back! The mild-mannered bank clerk with the short attention span and vivid imagination has inspired, charmed, and informed young and old alike since the publication of the hugely successful Mr Tompkins in Paperback (by George Gamow) in 1965. Now, this highly affable character returns to embark on a set of adventures that explore the extreme edges of the universe--the smallest, the largest, the fastest, and the farthest. Just by following the experiences and dreams of Mr. Tompkins, readers discover and come to know the merry dance of cosmic mysteries, including: Einstein's theory of relativity, bizarre effects near light-speed, the birth and death of the universe, black holes, quarks, space warps and antimatter, the fuzzy world of the quantum, and that ultimate cosmic mystery--love. The story of Mr. Tompkins' journey to the frontiers of modern physics will delight and inform all readers. Russell Stannard is a best-selling popular science writer and the author of the critically acclaimed Uncle Albert series of science books for children.
Book Description
Mr Tompkins is back!The mild-mannered bank clerk with the short attention span and vivid imagination has inspired, charmed and informed young and old alike since the publication of the hugely successful Mr Tompkins in Paperback (by George Gamow) in 1965. He is now back in a set of adventures exploring the extreme edges of the universe--the smallest, the largest, the fastest, the farthest. This new text is revised, updated and expanded by best-selling popular-science author Russell Stannard (author of the much-acclaimed Uncle Albert series of books for children).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Great book for Astronomy students! January 12, 2008
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.
An excellent update to a classic introduction to modern phys September 19, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
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.
Physics=awesome! April 13, 2004
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
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!
Good Book but Needs an Index & Bibliography November 16, 2003
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This was an enjoyable book, but it would profit by an index and bibliography. I keep wanting to refer to material read earlier, and foundd it difficult to find. I finally used the glosary as the basis of an index. When I thought there was a term in the book that might also be in the glossary, I wrote the page number down in the glossary. It'll be useful when I return to the book, which I'm sure I will. I can understand why they didn't provide a bibliography, but even a one pager would help. It only needed to be topic driven and not historically driven. Don't need a chronicle of events. I'm sure they didn't want to add to the expense or turn the book into something of an academic book.Much of the material in the first few chapters is available in books like Epstein's Relativity Visualized, which I highly recommend. I really like the last three chapters, which were added to the book. The chapters on how particle accelerators work and on elementary particles were very good. The later was a very insightful treatment on how the particles got their properties. Very well done. Also liked the chapter on space curvature. A reference might be good here on non-euclidean geometry, or naybe a reference to Abbott's Flatland or Ian Stewart's Flatterland, although they aren't on non-euclidean geometry. The introduction of fictional characters in the Tompkins book is quite useful and helpful. It somehow makes the facts more appealing. That alone perhaps encouraged me to read it from cover to cover. It softened the material at appropriate times rather than keep it on a hard track. The book had some trouble with the Andromeda Galaxy. In two places it had the distance wrong and in disagreement with one another. 800K ly (circa 1950s value) and 1M ly (not sure where that came from). I believe the accepted value is 2M ly. In one place it called the galaxy The Great Andromeda Nebula. It's not a nebula.
The New World of Mr. Tompkins April 30, 2002
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a great way to explore physics outside of the classroom and outside of the textbook. This book allows the reader to take Einstein's Theory of Relativity and see it in a way that is vivid and allows the reader to understand the concepts behind Einstein's great theory. The author that revised the book added extra adventures that helped the context of the book. The added illustration and charts are an added bonus that help the reader gain more of an understanding.
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