Identify Appertaining To Books White Light
| Title | : | White Light |
| Author | : | Rudy Rucker |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 269 pages |
| Published | : | May 7th 2001 by Four Walls Eight Windows (first published 1980) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. Science. Mathematics. Cyberpunk |
Rudy Rucker
Paperback | Pages: 269 pages Rating: 3.87 | 672 Users | 37 Reviews
Rendition In Favor Of Books White Light
Perhaps I should say why I have read this book in the first place: Rudy Rucker is a mathematician, a set theorist to be precise, and this book, his opera prima, was written around a central theme: infinity. To write fiction trying to convey Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers is no minor feat, and that alone is worth 5 stars.The plot is, in my opinion, a bit too dream-like, sometimes is not too sharp: a Lewis Carroll in C flat.But, tthat said, there are some serious fireworks here and there, for instance the speed-up to be able to count aleph null steps: a real feast for the brain.
I will try to write my own novel as a reply to Rudy's celebration of Cantor. Where he depicts the White Light of the Absolute, I will strive to paint the Gray Light which blurs the boundaries of Finite and Infinite.
Describe Books Conducive To White Light
| Original Title: | White Light |
| ISBN: | 156858198X (ISBN13: 9781568581989) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Appertaining To Books White Light
Ratings: 3.87 From 672 Users | 37 ReviewsAssess Appertaining To Books White Light
a really fun book, less science fiction than a kind of mathemagical fantasia on the concept of infinity, probably closer to Alice in Wonderland than anything else. extremely wild and free-wheeling, though somewhat detached; doesn't carry a lot of (or any, really) emotional weight, but is definitely mind-expanding and a hell of a ride. (my favorite part is when franx the beetle refers to gravity as "the seriousness.")It's probably cliche to compare a book to taking hallucinogens, but that's how White Light reads. Surreal, inventive, and a touch aimless, White Light is full of wild invention and mind-bending meditations on the nature of infinity. Another reviewer called it "refreshingly insane," and I tend to agree. I may seek out more Rudy Rucker in the future.
It definitely helps to be a math graduate student, as I was, when you read this book. It had some great insights into the difference between different orders of infinity. And a nice in-context descriptions of "Hilbert's hotel".
sort of a mathematical philosophical hallucinogenic fiction, but a casual, enjoyable read for the interested layman. i think the author does actually have professional background in metaphysics/mathematics but im not sure.
White Light is one of those whoa books. You've never read anything like it, you have no idea where it's going, and when you get there you feel like a new person.
Having had some previous exposure to Ruckers work (http://www.flurb.net/1/ruckerdifilipp..., http://www.rudyrucker.com/transrealbo...) before starting this book, I had some idea of what to expect: bizzarro-nerdpunk surreal fiction. Or something, I dunno, Im not great with labels. And thats basically what I got. White Light tells the story of Felix Rayman, a math professor at the fictional equivalent of an upstate SUNY campus and his journey to Cimön, which is infinitely distant in normal space.
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