| In this short story, a logician who really does not take the superstitions
of numerology seriously is invited to a "fringe" conference where he
delivers a talk on the mystical implications of Gregory Chaitin's
uncomputable number Omega. He intends the talk to be an obvious joke,
but it is taken seriously nonetheless, drawing him into a world of mystics
and eternal spirits. This story was published in the short collection
"Herbarium of Souls".
Tasic, a Serbian mathematician now living in Canada, not only publishes his
research in algebra in highly respectable math journals, his fiction is
highly acclaimed by literary critics -- a rare combination. Some of his
other writings are at least somewhat mathematical as well. For instance,
"Secrets of an Argonaut", in the same collection involves some discussions
of the equations of a Dyson field. However, his writing is not appreciated
so much for its mathematical content as for its hauntingly sombre attitude
and clever blend of the worlds of the arts, mysticism and science. | Contributed by
Henry Bruse
Tasic is under-appreciated. His book: Mathematics and the Roots of Postmodern Thought should be considered essential to any mathematical library.
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