Imaginary Numbers

"With this delightful anthology, Frucht throws a bridge across the chasm separating the 'Two Cultures' of science and literature."--Booklist

"A marvelous colledtion of diverse talents and writing."--San Diego Union-Tribune

A wildly inventive treasury of the most artful words ever written about numbers. Mathematics and writing may seem to exist in opposite realms, but as William Frucht reveals, the world of numbers has always held a special fascination for men and women of letters. Imaginary Numbers displays the fruits of this cross-fertilization by collecting the best creative writing about mathematical topics from the past hundred years. In this engaging anthology, we can explore the many ways writers have played with mathematical ideas. Delve into the fourth dimension and infinity, into fantasy and philosophy with such masters as Lewis Carroll, Edwin Abbott Abbott, Philip K. Dick, Martin Gardner, and Alan Lightman. Revel in renowned tales by Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, cult classics such as Connie Willis's "The Schwartzschild Radius,"and lesser-known gems by such visionaries as William Gibson and A. K. Dewdney. For mathematical mavens and literary lions alike, Imaginary Numbers adds up to one fascinating read.

William Frucht is a senior editor at Basic Books and the coauthor, with Larry Siever, of The New View of Self.

Italo Calvino: The Form of Space.

Rudy Rucker: A New Golden Age.

Lewis Carroll: A Serpent with Corners (from A Tangled Tale).

J. A. Lindon: A Positive Reminder.

Raymond Smullyan: How Kazir Won His Wife.

Alan Lightman: 11 May 1905 (from Einstein's Dreams).

Roald Hoffman: Why Does Disorder Increase in the Same Direction of Time as That in Which the Universe Expands?

Philip K. Dick: The Golden Man.

Hilbert Schenck: The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck.

Abner Shimony: Resolution of the Paradox: A Philosophical Puppet Play.

Piet Hein: Parallelism.

Douglas Hofstadter Prelude...(from Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid).

Stanislaw Lem: The Third Sally, or The Dragons of Probability (from The Seven Sallies of Trurl and Klapaucius).

Edwin Abbott Abbott: Concerning Irregular Figures (from Flatland).

Andrew Marvell: The Definition of Love.

A. K. Dewdney: On Fiddib Har (from The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World).

Martin Gardner: The Church of the Fourth Dimension.

Stanislaw Lem: The Extraordinary Hotel, or the Thousand and First Journey of Ion the Quiet.

Anonymous: Ten Weary, Footsore Travelers.

Racter: From The Policeman's Beard Is Half-Constructed.

William Gibson: Burning Chrome.

Fritz Leiber: Gonna Roll the Bones.

Wislawa Szymborska: A Word on Statistics.

Tommaso Landolfi: Giovanni and His Wife.

Joe Haldeman: The Private War of Private Jacob.

Jorge Luis Borges: The Library of Babel.

Christian Bok: Enantiomorphosis (A Natural History of Mirrors).

Connie Willis: Schwarzschild Radius.

Siv Cedering: Letter from Caroline Herschel (1750-1848).

Yevgeny Zamyatin: From We.

J. G. Ballard: The Garden of Time.

Acknowledgments.

Permission Acknowledgments.