By far, the most interesting thing to me about this book is that in the five years I've been running this Website, nobody has pointed it out to me! (I just ran across it myself in the library in March 2005.) It seems as if this book has been totally forgotten. Although it is far from perfect, there are a number of clever things about it, and it has quite a bit of mathematics in it. Perhaps it is time that it was "rediscovered".

The book takes place in what we might want to think of as an "alternate timeline". (The first clue that this is so comes in the quotation from Abraham Lincoln on the very first page. It says things such as "Though fondly we hope and fervently pray that this great scourge of war shall speedily pass, still we must not derogate the promise of the laser science so misused by lesser angels of our nature." Yes, it says laser science.) There are three especially notable differences between the world as we know it and the one in this book. In the book, Jesus Christ is not arrested by the Romans and crucified, but rather leads an assault on a Roman fortress and dies in battle. (He fought using a crossbow which becomes the symbol of the church.) One result of this difference is that Christianity focuses more on violence and justice and less on "love", but it apparently leads to other differences as well. Another big difference is that there seems to be only one government on Earth, and it is run by a coalition of sociologists, psychologists and a computer called "The Pope" which represents religion. The society under this government is organized into castes by profession, and no sexual/romantic relations are allowed except those ordered by the governement (and those are always within a caste). Finally, a big difference comes in the form of the brilliant mathematician Fairweather I whose discoveries include his Simultaneity Theory (seems somewhat like Einstein's relativity), laser propulsion systems, and the Pope itself....all in the 19th century!

Now, you can see why Haldane IV and Helix are risking punishment from the State, both by having sexual relations (leading to a pregnancy...a serious crime indeed) and by trying to figure out exactly what it is about Fairweather that has been censored. For instance, they learn that his son Fairweather II was himself punished by being sent to Hell, and that his famous father was somehow involved! Along the way, Handane IV makes his own mathematical discovery: a twist on Fairweather's work that will allow for time travel.

A running theme in this book is mathematics and either poetry, literature or aesthetics. Although this theme essentially disappears by the end of the book, it is important towards the beginning and this may be of interest to some readers. It is at first only because Haldane IV is looking for an excuse to get to know Helix that he starts looking into the mathematics of poetry and literature. However, he does eventually get interested in it himself. The book seems to suggest that there is no aesthetics of mathematics (a statement with which I strongly disagree), but the idea of trying to understand, analyze and/or produce literary aesthetics using mathematics makes at least a little bit of sense. I'm not sure I can see it ever eliminating our desire for human poets, as the book suggests. But, I would guess that there are at least some things of interest one could produce through such an analysis.

Although math and mathematicians get mentioned on nearly every page of the book, there is no real mathematics discussed (and Fairweather's work is only presented in the loosest of terms). Still, clearly, mathematics is very important to this novel. Unfortunately, the book has not aged well. Not only does it seem somewhat sexist and racist (although I suspect the author may have intended quite the opposite), the whole viewpoint on religion, authority and love seem quite dated. In particular, I think that if I could put myself in the mindset of a young adult in the late 1960's, I'd be able to read this book and say "Wow, man. What a trip! Like Boyd says, man. Peace and love. Down with the man, man. Etc." However, seeing as I was only 1 year old when this book was published, all I can say now is "Well...THAT was weird!"

Of course, other readers may feel differently. For instance:

Okay, now I'm going to say something about the ending of the book. If you want to READ the book yourself, you should stop reading this now. Only scroll down if you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

SPOILER WARNING! Don't scroll down further unless you want to see how the book ends.

Okay, so in the end it turns out that Helix is Fairweather I's grand-daughter. She was sent to Earth (from Hell) specifically to find a mathematician and TRICK him into committing a crime so that he'd be sent to Hell. Hell is not really a place of punishment, as it turns out. The Pope, as designed by Fairweather, sends COOL lawbreakers there and they have a rather perfect society up there. No death, no crime, lots of love and happiness. Oh, and it isn't REALLY an ice planet...at least not all year. They just arranged for the ships from Earth to only come there during the cold season so that they don't realize how nice it is the rest of the year. Fairweather II, who is still alive on Hell, also discovered the time travel version of Fairweather I's theory and he wanted to bring Haldane IV there for an important mission: they send him back in time to fix things on Earth. So, he goes back to Jesus' time and (using the pseudonym "Judas") turns Jesus in to the authorities so that he'll be a martyr for peace and love instead of for violence and justice. After faking Jesus' death with some drugs he uses his time ship (which is disguised to look like a boulder) to send Jesus to Hell (presumably after using it to block the cave where Jesus' "body" is placed). So, there is a sense in which Haldane IV/Judas Iscariot saved mankind. He saved it from the evil "State" that tries to control our lovelives. By the way, Haldane doesn't age because of the treatment he got on Hell from Fairweather II, stays on earth and lives into the 20th century where he goes by the name of "Hal Dane" in a world that looks much more like the one we know. Isn't it groovy?