a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)
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Two of the innovators of the cyberpunk novel -- famous for showing how messed up the future will be because of technology -- turn everything around and show us instead how great the past would have been with computers. In this "alternate reality", mathematicians Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace succeed where their counterparts in our world failed: actually making a computer.
In this "steampunk" version of history, 19th century Britain has many of the features we associate with the computer age, except they are achieved mechanically with gears rather than semi-conductors. In addition to talking about "clacking" and "The Steam Intellect Society", occasional mathematical terms are tossed around, like "nonlinear analysis". But, the primary role of math in the story comes through the important (though rarely seen) character of Ada Lovelace. In this book, she goes by Ada Byron because in this alternate reality her father (the poet Lord Byron) becomes Prime Minister. Ada herself is not doing that well. As in our version of reality, she becomes addicted to mind altering substances and gambling, and her reputation as a mathematician suffers. But, early in the book we are given reason to believe that she has made one more great discovery.
One of the main characters is entrusted by Ada Byron with a wooden box containing punch cards, which play the role of the MacGuffin in this novel. And, although math does not play much of a role in the rest of the book, it is a key component of the climax, at least for those knowledgeable enough to understand it. Spoiler Alert!: Do not read any further if you hope to read the book and enjoy the ending without any further clues as to the final surprise. Spoiler Alert!: Do not read any further if you hope to read the book and enjoy the ending without any further clues as to the final surprise. Spoiler Alert!: Do not read any further if you hope to read the book and enjoy the ending without any further clues as to the final surprise.
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More information about this work can be found at www.amazon.com. |
(Note: This is just one work of mathematical fiction from the list. To see the entire list or to see more works of mathematical fiction, return to the Homepage.) |
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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)