‘The best just got better. Two of the most influential popular science books ever were Mr Tompkins in Wonderland (1940) and Mr Tompkins Explores the Atom (1945) … They were brought together in one volume, slightly updated, and reprinted in 1965 as Mr Tompkins in Paperback … Russell Stannard, the very best writer of science books for young readers [has updated Mr Tompkins] with immense care and subtlety, rearranging the text, adding new material and changing a word or two where necessary … I had two fears - that my remembered delight in the original would be destroyed by looking at it through more mature eyes, and that Stannard might spoil the book. Both were unfounded. There is a certain period charm about the original, but Stannard has improved on both the physics and the narrative … It is absolutely the best place to get a feel for the most important scientific ideas of the twentieth century.’
John Gribbin
Source: The Independent
‘… as I kept reading, I began to realize that Stannard had actually done a remarkable job of preserving the mood and feeling of the original … The book still has a charming naiveté, and although the illustrations have been changed, they too still have that same, almost Victorian quality. So, to my surprise, I have to pronounce the translation a success. If newcomers who have not seen the original read the book, they will find a charming, whimsical introduction to modern physics … Are there other good books that cover the same material? Lots of them! Is there another book that does it so pleasantly, giving the reader a direct, sort of inside view of otherwise very remote phenomena, all within the context of a running short novel? I doubt it! The New World … is a unique book.’
Source: Physics Today
‘… here is a version that Stannard believes Gamow himself might have written, had he been at work today. Physics took a giant leap at the junction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries … the book deals very well with the more recent developments and Mr Tompkins’ visit to a particle accelerator is well described. Stannard has also updated the language, where appropriate. This has been a successful exercise that Gamow … would have liked. I can recommend the book both for general readers, and for specialists who may like to check how their subject is being presented to Mr Tompkins today.’
Source: Physics World
‘A new version of the Mr Tompkins’ adventures, revised and updated by Russell Stannard, brings the experiences into modern day. A welcome addition to the original.’
Source: Astronomy Now
‘For more than five decades the fictional Mr Tompkins has helped familiarize people with many esoteric concepts of physics. Russell Stannard … has brought George Gamow’s Mr Tompkins into atomic physics and cosmology but has kept the British flair.’
Source: Sky and Telescope
‘For more than five decades the fictional Mr Tompkins has helped familiarize people with many esoteric concepts of physics. Russell Stannard … has brought George Gamow’s Mr Tompkins in atomic physics and cosmology but has kept the British flair.’
Source: Sky and Telescope
‘Russell Stannard is a brilliant communicator.’
Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement
From reviews of Mr Tompkins in Paperback:‘Enthusiastically recommended to both scientific and general readers.’
Source: The Guardian
‘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.’
Source: The Observer
‘Will vastly fascinate the whimsical, and is also entirely scientific.’
Source: Scientific American
‘An inspired double reissue’.
Source: GNOMON
‘All in all, this has been a successful exercise … I can recommend the book both for general readers, and for specialists who may like to check how their subject is being presented to Mr Tompkins today.’
Jayant Narlikar
Source: Physics World
‘ … a new edition of this classical book, revided and updated by Russell Stannard. Such an update was, indeed, long overdue … If you need a gift for a non-physicist, The New world of Mr Tompkins is the right thing for you to buy.'
Volker Perlick
Source: General Relativity and Gravitation
‘Popular science author Russell Stannard, has treaded - successfully in this reviewer}s opinion - on hallowed ground by updating a classic, written by an author who has made major contributions to cosmology and nuclear physics, and who was a tireless populizer of science … other than there not being enough sex, this is a wonderful introduction to the most important scientific ideas of our time.’
Source: MNASSA
‘Modern physics has never been explained in such an entertaining way.’
Source: School Science Review (Association for Science Education)
