Mathematicians In Love

by Rudy Rucker

A wild, funny tale. Two young mathematicians compete for the love of two women across space, time and logic-spinning out Dr. Seuss-like mathematical mumbo jumbo along the way. Our hero Bela befriends a giant jellyfish god, wins his true love, and alters reality in a new way.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Mathematics, Science Fiction Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Novels

336 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2006

About the author

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre. He is best known for his Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which won Philip K. Dick awards. Presently, Rudy Rucker edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a parallel universe close to our own, Bela and Paul are two doctoral students in mathamatics. The two are friends and roomates who come up with a new theory that will predict the future and eventually becomes the way to break down the barrier from one parallel universe to the other. Into this equation comes Alma, who at first is romantically linked to Bela but then dumps him for Paul.

Bela's more than a little upset and uses the new math theory to travel to parallel universes to win back Alma. Along the way, he starts a rock band, becomes a reality show star and finds out a universe with giant jellyfish ruling it.

If it all sounds a bit absurd, it probably is. But within the context of Rudy Rucker's "Mathmaticians in Love" it all makes perfect sense. This is one of those books that, were it a tv show, you'd say turn off your brain and go with it. But Rucker delivers a loopy plot that has some through provoking moments of mathmatics that don't talk down to readers and feel natural within the context of the story. If you've ever been in the world of academics, I bet there are a lot more in-jokes there that went right over my head.

That said, there was still a lot that didn't and I enjoyed the book a great deal.

[steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem about reading a book about mathematicians is that, well, it's about math. The math is handled in a Lewis Carroll sort of way, with plenty of metaphors to explain the complicated concepts, but at times I almost wished there would be a page or two of technobabble rather than another metamorphosis of the teakettle and the rake.

The love story, which is supposedly the whole reason these math graduates are traveling through parallel dimensions, falls flat. The woman the protagonist is in love/lust with is a waste of breathable air; there's no reason why he wouldn't be just as happy -- or happier -- with the bass player in his band. And without understanding that central motivation, you're more or less just there for the ride ... which is fine, in a slightly broadening perspective sort of way, but not as excellent as I had hoped.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rudy Rucker’s Mathematicians in Love begins on an alternate world (where David Hume and Alexander Locke get the name nod for the university town instead of Idealist philosopher George Berkeley) from our own and ends up with several options/timelines from there. I’m not giving anything away here. The very first sentence of the book indicates that the protagonist will travel through multiple worlds to get to the point where he is writing his memoirs, the conceit for the novel itself.

Anyone who knows the prolific work of Rucker both as an authentic mathematician and theoricist (“mathonaut”) and as a science-fiction novelist knows that he posits new possibilities for a “multiverse” (or more accurately, if I remember correctly “one universe with infinite instances.” In the alternate world university city of Humelocke, where the story begins, two graduate students in mathematics end up vying for the same girl. Their research, obsessions, and often petty disagreements will end up changing the lives of individuals, the course of political elections, the face of entertainment, and the history of more than one alternate world.

Let me be honest, here, I don’t understand even the real mathematical principles that Rucker uses as his launch pad into theoretical speculation. But I get the symbolic “notion” of that mathematics. More importantly, I resonate with the philosophical implications of that speculation. For example, more evolved beings describe the world where our protagonist, Bela, begins as a “docile world.” By that, this alien mathematician/theorist indicates that the world where Bela’s adventure begins is a world of “high probability.” Conversely, at another point, Bela finds himself in a world that really isn’t very “docile” and he suggests that he likes this chaotic existence, this non-docile world, where “free-will” seems to make a difference. I like that.

Of course, Rucker’s view of God as creator and my own view are different. While I don’t have any problem with my Creator God forming many possible “instances” of our universe, I see both the maleness of active change and the femaleness of nurturing support in the Person of God as Creator. I follow the traditional cultural paradigm of describing God as male because, without the active verbs associated in our subconscious with maleness, God’s creative and sustaining activity is quickly reduced to the passive verbs associated with accepting, caring, nurturing femaleness. But in our collective unconscious (to dredge up a Jungian term), femaleness has a certain passivity, even a false impotence to it, that doesn’t fit my personal belief structure at all.

Neither does Rucker’s depiction of the Creator God as a higher evolved female alien who keeps experimenting with worlds until she gets one that more or less suits her as the best possible world. Then, she turns into the “sun” for another world in sort of a reverse apotheosis where god becomes natural feature. For Rucker, as for many modern humans, there is a mistrust of what the female “God” is doing. His protagonist suggests that what she considers to be the best possible world might not really be the best possible world for those who have to live there. After all, her experience of life is considerably different from the main life-form on the world being created.

Pardon me if my evangelical bent comes into this. I truly believe Rucker has hit upon something here, something that is essential in the Christian doctrine of Incarnation. God who doesn’t know what human life is like can never know (experientially) what the best possible world can be. Hence, God becomes human to assure us that God knows what human life is like and what is most needed. By saying that God assures us, we don’t even have to speculate on omniscience and whether God Himself “discovered” anything in the Incarnation which would have been instantly known in Eternity beyond the timeline such that it was known both BEFORE and AFTER human history. We can simply be assured that God knows what it is like to be human and has directed all of creation toward that which is the best possible world for us. We also know from the scripture that we haven’t reached that optimal world yet because “all creation groaneth and travaileth unto redemption.”

Of course, Rucker would be horrified that a story filled with fascinating mathematical reflection, fast-paced chases, double-crosses, and murders, incredible higher-evolved creatures, rampant drug abuse, prolific casual sex, and hard-driving rock could become fuel for theological speculation. Fortunately, once a book is published, it becomes fuel for the reader’s own thought-processes. I don’t mean to take anything away from what was, to me, a page-turner of a thriller, a delightful romp through a different metaphysic than my normal thought processes, and a great story filled with the classic “characters you care about.” Mathematicians in Love may well be the best book I’ve read this year and it may be the best science-fiction book I’ve read this century. And since I just read Rucker’s Post-Singular, that’s saying something.

[Dav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm pretty much the dead on target audience for this book, and it was executed brilliantly so five fat stars from me! The author's nonfiction version of this is called (I think) The Lifebox, the Seashell and the Soul. I recommend it as a companion piece.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

In college, I read one of Rucker's first books, "White Light", a Carrollian meditation on infinity, academics, and the rabbit hole. It seemed like a hybrid of science fiction and mathematics -- math-fi, if you will -- but Rucker wasn't up to the task of weaving a yarn half as exciting as the geometric conceptions he was tackling. Thankfully, "Mathematicians in Love", written 25 years later, finds Rucker wonderfully adept at balancing his myriad mathematical passions with a genuinely engaging, almost Coupland-esque story of emotionally adrift twentysomethings looking for meaning in the world-- well, one of several worlds, anyway.

The book follows Bela, a clever if lackadaisical graduate student living in the town of Humelocke, a town with many similarities to Berkeley, California, but on an Earth somewhere removed from our own. Bela is instinctual, brash, and intelligent, but overshadowed by his advisor and even by his roommate Paul, an intense, competitive, and brilliant person. Enter Alma, a surfer chick with a deep imagination and deeper ambitions, and a love triangle begins to take shape.

But, of course, shapes are never so simple in a Rudy Rucker novel; Bela and Paul's work in topology begins to open doors for them, figuratively in their careers and literally in their universe. Soon their adventures, broadcast on ubiquitous handheld reality-tv transmitters known as 'vlog rings', begin to attract unwelcome attention, both from a paranoid government agency as well as beings less terrestrial. By the time our friends have managed to open topological rifts between worlds, they're hiding from hitmen, resurrecting a slain friend in an alternate timeline and trying to make things right with two Almas. (Maybe it's better not to ask.)

Rucker's wildly imaginative novel gets away from him at times -- you sometimes feel like there are as many arbitrary ideas as there are ones germane to the larger plot -- and yet it's hard not to get swept along in the cosmological currents. For the author, mathematics is truly a universal language -- and whether Bela is translating the shapes in his head to his buzzy, textural guitar playing, or Paul is devising elaborate plans to out-think a sentient sphere that can predict his every move, or Alma is contemplating the sea above the sky in a concentric, fractal universe -- Rucker has found a way to marry his four-dimensional mind to real, three-dimensional characters. The book is a staggering achievement, and you don't need to be a student of mathematics to appreciate Mathematicians in Love; just a student of adventure.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok. A problem in general with most sci-fi that I have read is that the quality of the writing is just lacking. I love the ambitious ideas that sci-fi writers shoot for, but I wish they would work a little harder with the writing and characters.

In 1997 or so, the NY Times reported on some experiments that indicated that implied that we don't really have free will. It was mostly about how it appears that our brains are reactionary to stimulus and that our conscience thought is a "story" that our brain has made up for us. If that doesn't make sense, here's the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/sci...

Anyways, this book takes on that topic in a funny and light-hearted way. Though I really don't like Rudy Rucker's characters, the book was fun and he always has a ton of ideas in his books.

[Iris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elliott Bay Books - Science Fiction book club for February 2009


This book fell far short of my expectations. It shifted tone and style so many times that it became incoherent in the middle and barely corrected in time for the ending. The story devolves from a cheesy almost-romance into a religious acid trip into a political-SF-action-thriller that's completely non-credible.

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very strange. I enjoyed reading it mostly because I'm a math student in Berkeley, which the characters of this book are as well. Rucker does some funny and creative things describe his world's stand-in for Berkeley, and I liked the version of mathematics that was presented there. I particularly liked the parodying way his characters talk about math. It's exactly the kind of nonsense I expect people hear when I am talking about my own research.

At the end of the day, I can't imagine most non-mathematicians would find it quite as funny as I did, just because it's more interesting to see your own life made fun of. And beyond the math humor, I didn't get a whole lot from this book. The characters are simultaneously unlikeable and extraordinarily talented, which leaves me wanting them to fail, but constantly seeing them succeed instead.

I would recommend this book to people who spend time in Berkeley or the Bay Area and care a bit about math, probably everyone else can skip it.

[Christa Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bela and Paul are finishing their Phd work in mathematics. They are good friends but then become rivals for the affection of Alma, a lovely girl who is looking for an upwardly mobile mate. Their rivalry becomes more interesting when their graduate work turns up a theory to predict the future. Soon aliens are in contact and the three visit an alternative universe where they are allowed to pick a version of the Earth to return to. Crazy times are ahead as Bela and Paul weigh in on a fixed election, become professors and rock stars as well as famous video bloggers. I certainly didn't understand much of the math theory but the rest was entertaining.

[Ian Woodworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did my due diligence, and gave it 100 pages. This book suffers from a lack of a good editor; it reads like an early draft. The jargon is just jargony enough to make it almost relatable, but not quite. The biggest sin, though, is that he uses ham-fisted exposition to tell us about his characters - and frequently in a way that makes no context within the scene. I expected more from someone who is touted as a two-time Hugo Award winner.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok whew. Done. 2.49 stars. Had some fun concepts but the story never caught fire the way it should have. The female characters read as plastic and the 2 main male characters were just not that interesting! I hated the fickle attitudes toward Alma. Tons of immaturity here.

[Bill Abrams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great title for a book. It is clever occasionally, trashy frequently, and either i intentionally or unintentionally silly. Enjoy!

[Raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read when you feel your mind is getting too flat and in need of ringing out.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird and wild.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredible self insert fanfic with unlikeable characters and math that could have been interested if it were explained in the slightest

[Jason Brown (Toastx2) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decade ago, i knew a man who went by the moniker “The Professor” (Fess). we all called him that because he was our leather clad, pc geek, rivet head savant. Dustin, as his parents called him, was a real gem of a human.

fond memories of fess prior to his demise include drunken ramblings regarding “abstract mathematics”. the professor did not hold the same view on abstraction as core mathematicians. core math removes the ties to physical objects thus breaking out into pure theory and crossing standard mathematical boundaries. Fess firmly believed that standard abstraction was wrong and the ties to physicality are ultimately more important.

in the professors perspective:

couch + toilet paper (wristwatch/french fries) = lower half of a broken gi joe.

likewise (pressed flower/4th of july fireworks) * (glow worms/butter knife) / baton rouge area code = mink coat

Mathematicians in Love was like having the professor back. he would have truly enjoyed this book

Characters Paul and Bela are mathematicians, they have minimal in common. they became friends while in school, as room mates. they are very competitive and nervous about intellectual theft. both are close to being done with their final thesis work, and both are missing key concepts to complete. they also have alma.

alma approaches bela with the intent of interviewing him for a local rag e-paper. he falls for her almost instantly. when bela brings her home, so does paul. 3, 2, 1… FIGHT

strangely enough, though Alma is the key to the whole story, she is not the story in itself. This would actually be washer drop, the Gobrane paracomputer, and the morphic classification theorem.

Washer drop is Bela’s band, the band that did not exist before he destroys the washing machine while filming a live feed to rabid non-fans (intentionally vague). washer drops creation and the mayhem involved is fundamental to the plot. bela is a rockstar in a geeks body. but in this dimension (similar to our Berkley) math geeks are pretty much rockstars anyway.

The Gobrane paracomputer is a nu-technology available in this incarnation of earth. it is a simple binary computer system that is functionally more like a crystal ball and the i-ching smashed together with a hammer and them spit shined. they do not resemble a standard windows pc in our world, though some functions could be the same. its form can be a simple box or a shining membrane. it is essentially a codec, with proper usage, it can decode life itself.

and the morphic classification theorem. this is the thesis that paul and bela are working on for school. this is what causes all the trouble as a gobrane cant exist with out it. with out the theorem, there would be no washer drop or rabid now-fanbase.

as stated in the book -

“five basic morphons. Fish, dish, rake, birthday cake, teapot. They’re like the cross-cap and the torus in algebraic topology [...:]

[...:] Each morphon had a characteristic activity– the fish swam; the dish shattered; the teapot poured; the rake dragged,; and the birthday cake blazed with candles. implicit in these behaviors were five fundamental processes: rhythm, fracture, flow, aggregation, transformation. [...:]

[...:] The dish morphon goes under the birthday cake, with the teapot sitting on the cake inside the circle of candles. The fish is inside the teapot peeking out. [...:]“

ultimately, when all the pieces are together, you can program anything you would like, toss in a fractal, or perhaps some car keys and you get the root of everything.

wish you could have read this one Fess. would be a good read with wumpscut playing in the background.

--
xpost RawBlurb.com

[Schnaucl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warning: review contains minor spoilers.

It turned out to be a different book than I'd expected. I get the impression this may be due to a lack of familiarity with Rudy Rucker's work. I had hoped it would be a more serious scifi novel instead of something closer to a novel by Christopher Moore (whom I love, but I go in expecting that kind of story).

There were some thinly veiled critiques of the Bush Administration as well as the Democratic party. Nothing really insightful, but okay.

The thing that really bothered me was how poorly the main female character was written. The two main male characters are supposed to be fighting over this woman and I have no idea why. It's mentioned a few times that she's beautiful, and she's willing to sleep with them, which is something, I guess. But she sleeps with Bela, then immediately wants to move in and expects him to get a job that second (he's graduating with a PhD in a few days) to take care of her. She, of course, will also be graduating but doesn't seem in any hurry to support herself. She leaves Bella on a whim to be with his roommate who already has a job offer. She spends most of the time being whiny, annoying and insulting and I just don't get why they care. Bela and Paul both claim to love her, but Bela's equally happy to be with someone else. There's no real depth to any of their feelings about anything, even math. I get the impression it's more that they love her because she's there and it's probably easier than trying to find someone else. It's not even that she's the only girl who will sleep with them. That, at least, I could understand even if I don't agree that it's enough for a foundation of a real relationship. It's not a bad book, but it feels like it's an empty book.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this one. I loved the first few chapters, setting up Bela’s alternate universe—our world but not (and specifically, Berkeley but not, which was particularly fun for me). I loved some of the insights into the different ways Bela and Paul approached math; the idea of Bela hearing equations as music was wonderful, because I’m always fascinated by the way people think. Some of the alternate universe theory was cool, too—I dug the council of alien mathematicians—but other parts of it didn’t work for me. So Bela and Co. save Earth 2 from a corrupt political machine that’s clearly based on the Bush administration (and do so through the power of rock ‘n’ roll, which was awesome), but then Bela escapes to “the best of all possible worlds”—and it’s our world? Huh? I also couldn’t get behind the ending, and couldn’t really enjoy the love-triangle-y bits, because I hated Alma; I thought she was a selfish bitch and couldn’t understand why Bela and Paul were fighting over her or why “boy gets girl” should be seen as a happy and satisfactory conclusion. (Though I did enjoy the few excuses it gave for Bela and Paul to be a bit gay for each other—check out the dream sequence where Bela reaches over to stroke Alma’s pussy and instead wakes up gasping at the imagined touch of Paul’s cock.) So really, what I liked the best were the bits about Bela’s band; I guess what I really wanted was a story about alternate universe rock ‘n’ roll. With no Alma.

[Karl Schaeffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this one at the dollar store. Had never read any of this author before. Phillip K Dick award winner. Not too shabby. Might have been not the best timing to read this after just finishing Stross's singularity book; but, never the less... Two math nerds, with barely sub psychopathic social and interpersonal skills figure out how to travel between parallel universes. Hilarity then ensues. Including, murder, romance, violence, political intrigue and high tech machinations. Oh don't forget the math! How is the math discussed? With metaphor and symbolism, of course. I remember a grad assistant that taught one of my undergraduate classes. He spoke of his math in terms of creamy and chunky peanut butter. I think that guy got into heavy drugs at some point, catch my drift?

One minor drawback; I found none of the characters likable. How can you root for somebody in a book when you don't like any of them? Kinda like Game of Thrones.

The parallel universe and political thing was interesting. I enjoyed the South Bay setting.

I won't seek out this author, but I would read his other stuff.it might be interesting to read the Ware series to see how the author develops a story over 20 years.

[Skander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this at random on a shelf in the library and picked it up. I'd really give it a 3.5 stars, but there are enough other folks that I might recommend it to that I put it in my 4 stars bin for now.

I really liked the take on futureness and predictability, and the star-trek style math kept it from seeming like overly 'technical' sci-fi. The focus on the girl these mathematicians fall in love with is in some ways what keeps it from being better - I think the same premises could have produced a much more interesting work without the math part. The romance seems like the kind of sad, overly obsessive romance a geek might have, but which anyone who isn't a 17 year old nerd, seems kind of pathetic. The ending is a bit pat also, but it would be hard to come up with one that wasn't.

In any case, it was a lot of fun to read, went quickly, and only as I write this review do I feel less positive about it (as happens when you evaluate something more critically than just as a reader.) It's a good summer sci-fish beach read that'll appeal to a nerdy audience not afraid of math.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all this is not just a book for people that like math. It's well written, good characters and a sturdy plot line.
In my eyes Rudy Rucker rarely fails me as a writer. I have yet to encounter a book he has written that was something I had to put down. That being said I am also not a book snob. It's great when a writer captures my attention and I am able to read a book cover to cover with out distractions. I am one of those peoples that reads several books at a time. This book took most of my attention and kept it for the long haul.
I did have a few points where I thought I would put it down but then I still had that need to find out what happened.
I try and write reviews that do not tell the story line, more how much I enjoyed the book. I would recommend this book to all Rucker fans or even those new to his writing. Though I would start with the Bopper Trilogy (Software, Wetware and Hardware and even The Hacker and the Ants)

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very entertaining Rucker novel -- one of his best. Surfer mathpunk rules, dog!

You won't be surprised to learn that Robert Sheckley was his first inspiration to write SF -- see http://www.rudyrucker.com/mathematici...

Interesting guy. Cute pix, too. He has a massive pdf of notes for the book online -- -- but for heaven's sake, don't read it first! Some (spoiler-free) samples:

"In principle you could hypertunnel from a Zone B world, but in practice you can't get the tech together. The evil rays revel in chaotic class-three and class-four zones." -- p.183

"What is wrong with those stubborn, clannish SF fans, Frek is exactly the kind of book they want, for heaven's sake, it's just like Lord of the Rings or Henry Potter or The Golden Compass..." --p.185

Very cool book, from an underappreciated author. If you've never tried a Rucker, this would be a good place to start.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book is fascinating: 2 guys, 1 girl, and an unlimited amount of MATH to make it all possible in a Sliders style of paradoxes.

Too much setup for how we could all obviously gleam this was going to end up. I think the author must be addicted to Guitar Hero because the whole band subplot seemed very overworked and handy more than necessary.

The dialogue is priceless. "I love you." "I'm glad." So true.

The author is great at showing how college relationships evolve and dissolve at the push of a button. Or jump to a parallel world, but whatevs.

I'm a bit of an Alma when it comes to math so a dissection of that aspect will have to be left to experts. When it comes to writing, I'm all about the rhetoric and less scientific accuracy.

Cute ending.

[Colin Grove · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. And at first I did... reading a novel that begins by describing thoughts of a mathematics graduate student, written by someone who's been there, is a rare pleasure. Unfortunately it soon becomes clear that this book has no grasp of the way people are, or the way they interact. This was far more unrealistic than the transrealist elements (like giant 10-foot flying alien shells). It didn't help that many of the women were written like characters in an 18-year-old guy's fantasy.

Given that Rucker is apparently an award-winning SF writer, I hope his other work is better than this.

Full disclosure: I couldn't bring myself to finish the book. Maybe it redeems itself in the last half. I doubt it.

[Genevieve Trainor · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some authors who you will drop anything to read. Rudy Rucker is one of them. I have as hard a time giving any of his works less than five stars as I do rating anything by Camus as low as a four! I devoured this newest novel by Rucker as soon as it came out, and was not disappointed. Rucker's expansive philosophy of reality explores the reaches of possibility, while remaining grounded enough to touch on the unlikely topic described by the title. This clever love story has a slightly unsatisfying ending, but of the sort where you step back from your irritation and realize that really, it couldn't have ended any other way.

[Chadwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rudy Rucker has this thing that he does, this almost magical power where he imagines some sort of mathematics that is so powerful that it warps reality and he does it in a way that you don't feel like he's dumbing it down for you. This book is well written, and you come to care deeply for the characters, despite the fact that none of them seem to really give a shit for one another, because, hey, we're going to get it right in one of these realities. And yeah, I should really be putting more effort into this, but fuck it I'm going through some family shit right now, and I'm more interested in kicking my sister's goddamn ass.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Rudy Rucker, formerly a professor of mathematics and computer science, has traveled both into the past and into the future in novels including As Above, So Below (2002) and Frek and the Elixir (2004). Mathematicians, whichtakes place in a contemporary Berkeley-ish setting, offers a "transrealist" and satirical look into academic competition, modern culture, and love. Although the speculative math and science will please knowledgeable fans of those subjects, there's nothing too technical that a larger audience wouldn't enjoy. A few critics commented on some slow, tedious detours, clich_

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The back of this book bills it as a "romantic comedy" with sci-fi aspects. It doesn't work well as a romantic comedy because one does not root for the romantic leads to get together. The protagonist is ok, except for his unnatural attraction to a rather questionable female (This might be better explained in the movies with visual cues as to why he finds her so appealing).

So the romantic comedy aspects of the book are lacking, but the sci-fi is pretty fun. Lots of alternative worlds and mathematics rocking your world.

The political commentary in the book I found somewhat distracting, dating the book quite clearly to the Bush years.

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book.

Perhaps because of that I found it totally disappointing me. The back cover makes it appear so cool.

I am not saying it is a bad story. It is a nice one. But the characters make no sense. I am friends with lots of mathematicians. None of them say "dog" constantly. Some of them do play in bands, nevertheless.

Anyway, the parts in which "math" happens are cool. The parts about drugs, sex and behaviours I'd not associate in any way with DPhil mathematicians are not.

[Susy Gage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first discovery of Rudy Rucker--and it left me in stitches. How I love the grad students (the superstar vs. the slacker), the evil thesis advisor driven mad by coneshells (deservedly!), and the aliens themselves... "learn talk eat Owen brain" OMG. Linguistically fun, imaginative, wacky. Slowed down a bit near the end, but I didn't care. Nanonesia? Sea slug dinners that make you a genius? WANT.