MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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Turing's Apples (2008)
Stephen Baxter
(click on names to see more mathematical fiction by the same author)
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Contributed by Vijay Fafat

Story about a far-away civilization transmitting a complex message in all directions, containing a software program (“Turing machine”) which ends up creating von Neumann machines with one specific purpose: encoding all the civilization's knowledge in the form of folded space-time entities. The ultimate aim is to ensure that the universe is not able to erase all that conscious thought has learnt and invented in spite of the accelerated expansion of the universe which is bound to rip apart all its constituents in time (“The universe has no memory”). Along the way, the story delves briefly into Shannon's information entropy.

Currently available for free online in the GoogleBooks version of Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-sixth Annual.

More information about this work can be found at books.google.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 Turing's Apples
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. Gödel's Sunflowers by Stephen Baxter
  2. Planck Zero by Stephen Baxter
  3. The Eighth Room by Stephen Baxter
  4. The Pacific Mystery by Stephen Baxter
  5. Touching Centauri by Stephen Baxter
  6. Dark Integers by Greg Egan
  7. Shell by Stephen Baxter
  8. Eye of the Beholder by Alex Kasman
  9. Risqueman by Mike Wood
  10. Dante Dreams by Stephen Baxter
Ratings for Turing's Apples:
RatingsHave you seen/read this work of mathematical fiction? Then click here to enter your own votes on its mathematical content and literary quality or send me comments to post on this Webpage.
Mathematical Content:
2.5/5 (2 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
4/5 (2 votes)
..

Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifAcademia, Aliens, Alan Turing,
TopicComputers/Cryptography,
MediumShort Stories, Available Free Online,

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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)