Mr Tompkins Gets Serious

by George Gamow

Mr. Tompkins Gets Serious: The Essential George Gamow (2005) Pi Press, ISBN 0-13-187291-5. Incorporates material from Matter, Earth & Sky & The Atom & Its Nucleus. Notwithstanding the title, this book is not part of the Mr. Tompkins series.

Genres: Science, Physics

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2005

About the author

George Gamow (Russian pronunciation: [ˈɡaməf:]; March 4 [O.S. February 20:] 1904 – August 19, 1968), born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov (Георгий Антонович Гамов), was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist born in the Russian Empire. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background, nucleocosmogenesis and genetics.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I wish I had read it before going to college and getting a physics degree.

It gives me a much better feel for the science and how it develops. It helps me appreciate and understand it better.

[Courtney Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I've let myself down. I wanted to love George Gamow's book. Gamow himself pops up in all this science histories I read, this madcap Russian who drops into a scene, lets off an idea bomb, and then skips out again.

Sadly, 'Mr Tompkins Get Serious' was a bit too serious for me. Admittedly, he's drummed some basics into my thick head about electrons and their behaviours, but I didn't make it to th second half of the book.

I might still give the other (more fanciful) books in the series a go, but this one wasn't for me.