MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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One, True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction of the Limits of Knowledge (2003)
John L. Casti
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A novel about the limits of scientific knowledge set at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Mathematicians Kurt Gödel and John von Neumann are among the principle characters (along with Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer, of course). I have not read it yet, but it seems to have gotten mixed reviews from the professional critics (which by itself may not mean anything) who all agree that it succeeds as scientific discourse but disagree as to the literary quality.

John Casti is a well known author of non-fiction books on popular mathematics, although his recent Mathematical Mountaintops had to be withdrawn from publication after charges of plagiarism. He has also written another historical novel that qualifies (just barely) as mathematical fiction: The Cambridge Quintet.

More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.com.
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Works Similar to One, True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction of the Limits of Knowledge
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Cambridge Quintet by John L. Casti
  2. Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land by John Crowley
  3. The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern
  4. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis
  5. Pythagoras the Mathemagician by Karim El Koussa
  6. Ahmes, the Moonchild by Tefcros Michaelides
  7. Still She Haunts Me by Katie Roiphe
  8. Shooting the Sun by Max Byrd
  9. The Three Body Problem by Catherine Shaw
  10. A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin
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Categories:
GenreHistorical Fiction,
MotifReal Mathematicians, Kurt Gödel,
TopicMathematical Physics, Logic/Set Theory,
MediumNovels,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)