George Gamow first introduced Mr. Tompkins to the general public towards the end of the 1930’s through a series of articles in Discovery magazine. It was not long before a collection of stories appeared in book form as “Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland”. A few years later a second volume appeared called: “Mr. Tompkins explores the Atom”. By the time I was of an age to appreciate the stories, numerous revisions had been made and the stories were also available combined into a single volume: “Mr. Tompkins in Paperback”. This single volume covered Mr. Tompkins’ introductions to relativity, quantum mechanics and aspects of chemistry, all wrapped into a rather quaint romantic narrative. It could have been expected to remain frozen in that form when George Gamow died in 1968.
So it was with surprise that I recently came across the latest edition: “The New World of Mr. Tompkins”, a revision incorporating a lot of new material, prepared by Russell Stannard and published in 1999, with additional illustrations by Mike Edwards. The new revision is a major achievement. It has been sensitively prepared to preserve the style of Gamow’s original work with approval from his family but extensively edited to bring it up to date. It was not just the science that needed to be updated, but the characters had also dated. It would not have made sense to bring the science up to date without also updating the context in which it was presented. Major new chapters introduce aspects of cosmology and particle physics that have been developed over the past 30 years. Extensive edits have removed many of the particulars of the period in which it was written e.g. references to tiger hunts, and attitudes towards women. Minor edits acknowledge such changes as the introduction of email.
For those of you who have never met Mr. Tompkins, you will find him to be an unassuming middle-aged bank clerk, intended to be representative of the general layman, with an interest in what he hears about science and a vivid imagination to interpret what he learns, but with a short attention span and in need of frequent patient explanations which he obtains from a professor whose lectures he attends at his local university and the professor’s daughter to whom he is attracted.
George Gamow was himself a renowned physicist, and he set out through the Mr. Tompkins series to popularize many major developments in modern science. The professor’s lectures are therefore very soundly based, and the interspersed dreams and experiences of the unlikely hero serve to illustrate the points made in a thoroughly memorable and enjoyable way.
When Mr. Tompkins’ first starts to learn about relativity, he falls asleep and dreams of a place where the speed of light is drastically reduced and relativistic effects can be seen in everyday events. A little later, having been introduced to the concepts of space curvature, his imagination takes him to a small planet where he is able to experience the effects of a closed universe. Through his friendship with the professor’s daughter he is introduced to the conflicting “Big Bang” and “Steady State” theories concerning the origin of the universe that prevailed at the time that Gamow wrote the first stories. Gamow was one of the early proponents of the Big Bang theory which has now become accepted. In the latest version, the Steady State theory is cleverly relegated to a historical context.
When introduced to Quantum theory, Mr. Tompkins’ finds himself watching snooker being played with balls that demonstrate quantum behaviour, and later he goes on safari to watch waves of gazelles leaping through slits (akin to Young’s double slit experiment) straight into groups of expectant lions who have learned where to wait according to the established interference patterns.
When he hears about the structure of the atom, Mr. Tompkins’ vivid imagination causes him to join a tribe of electrons and see chemical reactions from an electron’s point of view. He gets caught up in an electric current, too.
Included in this latest edition is an introduction to particle physics including a wonderful guided tour of a particle accelerator, during which, true to form Mr. Tompkins falls and hits his head, giving rise to a very imaginative dream sequence, totally in keeping with the rest of the book.
If you are new to Mr. Tompkins and have an interest in physics and chemistry then I have no hesitation in recommending that you purchase a copy of the New World of Mr. Tompkins. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read, likely to be appreciated by those still studying science at school as well as those for whom school is a distant memory. It’s currently priced at £12.57 on Amazon, and is the sort of book that you will return to again and again. If you already have Mr. Tompkins in Paperback, then it may seem an expensive indulgence just for the additional 4 chapters and updates, however skillfully they have been done. ( I was lucky, I picked up my copy in a book sale for £1.)
The New World of Mr. Tompkins is published by Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521630096 (Current price on Amazon: £12.57)Mr. Tompkins in paperback is also still readily available (Guideline price £9.56)
P.S. If you should happen to be lucky enough to have a copy of the 1939 edition of Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, you might just be interested to look at the prices these are now attracting! No doubt about it, Mr. Tompkins is a classic!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
very helpful by (97%):
helpful by (3%):
