MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Journey into Geometries (1997)
Marta Sved
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Contributed by Vijay Fafat

It is styled after a frequently-used device: "Alice in X", where X can be any kind of space which you wish to explain to the gentle reader. In this instance, Alice, along with Lewis Carroll and a Doctor WhatIf, gets to explore X=hyperbolic geometries. Poincare's disk is explained in great detail, along with lots of examples and exercises. Characters from "Wonderland" and "Looking Glass" make appearances at various places. Not a book you can read as a novel but fiction is fused completely with the mathematics (except for chapter-end problems). And the author does not waste much time diving into deep geometry so it is not an easy read. Uses a lot of puns, as is to be expected, some good and some groan-worthy. She's thrown in a few poems / limericks / doggerels as well along the way. The foreword to the book compares it directly to Synge's "Kandelman's Krim". The book is an enormous amount of fun if you like geometry. Heartily recommend it to anyone who loves mathematical toys in the abstract (though nothing abstract about geometry on a sphere or on a horse's back...)

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.)

Works Similar to Journey into Geometries
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Flatterland: like Flatland, only more so by Ian Stewart
  2. Gulliver's Posthumous Travels to Riemann's Land and Lobachevskia by William Pepperell Montague
  3. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott
  4. Lost in the Math Museum by Colin Adams
  5. A Foundation in Wisdom by Robert Loyd Watson
  6. The Mathematician's Nightmare: The Vision of Professor Squarepunt by Bertrand Russell
  7. Visitors from Oz : The Wild Adventures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodsman by Martin Gardner
  8. The Romance of Mathematics: Being the Original Researches of a Lady Professor of Girtham College... by Peter Hampson Ditchfield
  9. Harvey Plotter and the Circle of Irrationality by Nathan Carter / Dan Kalman
  10. Into Thin Air by Colin Adams
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Categories:
GenreHumorous, Fantasy, Didactic,
Motif
TopicGeometry/Topology/Trigonometry, Real Mathematics,
MediumNovels,

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Where are the new works of mathematical fiction?: As you can see from this chronological listing, this database includes many works of mathematical fiction for each year from 1990 to 2025. Strangely, only two are listed for 2026, so far. Either less mathematical fiction is being published than in previous years or I'm just having more trouble finding it. If you know of any works of fiction that should be added to this list, especially recently published ones, please let me know. (Keep in mind that I do not include self-published works or children's fiction that just covers elementary mathematical concepts.) Thanks!

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)