White Light (277p)

Author - Rudy Rucker ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Ace was reviewed on 4-Nov-2008.

Search ISBN:0441885640 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. White Light (277p) Reference Book. Classifications : General Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General AAS Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books General AAS Science Fiction & Fantasy Subjects Books Paperback Mas .

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1) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. I´ve been looking for a copy of this in the used book bins for a couple of years now. I finally got sick of looking at it in my "to read" database in my PDA. It was pretty entertaining, I have to admit. Much more so if the reader understands Cantor´s work. Apparently it was a result of his musings on Cantor´s work during a short teaching tenure in a podunk univeristy. Part of it is pretty close to what he must have experienced there (despair, a failing relationship with his wife, drugs and really, really stupid students -all familiar situations to the young academic). Most of it is concerned with a sort of Edward Abbot-esque, or more accurately a Lewis Carroll-ish, journey to the lands of aleph-null and etcetera. I admit to being annoyed by the appearance of, well, Jesus Christ and Satan. I suppose others might be as annoyed by the appearance of David Hilbert and Georg Cantor. It should be compared with Lewis Carroll´s mathematical recreations and Edward Abbot´s "Flatland," but, really, I think this is my favorite mathematical fiction book.

One of these days I need to get around to reading some more of his fiction. I´ve actually met the man in person (and unfortunately, I think I freaked him out with my vehemence in pointing out that ´nanotech´ is extremely silly), and he seems like a clever fellow. The book is certainly virtually unique in style and substance.¤

2) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. I read somewhere, once, that Rudy Rucker was the original and actual father of cyberpunk, and that White Light was his seminal work. I´m not sure I really buy that, but I can say this - Rudy Rucker is certainly one of the most unique authors of his generation, and White Light is a unique work among unique works. Sort of Alice in Wonderland meets The Phantom Tollbooth, it is the story of a free-spirited mathematics professor who stumbles upon an extra-dimensional, parallel universe - where he embarks upon a journey to attain the ultimate truth; the White Light.

White Light is many things at once - so many things, in fact, that it hovers on the fulcrum between challenging and disturbing, between brilliantly complex and maddeningly random. At the end, I´m not certain whether I´ve read a work of coherent genius, so much as I am impressed by Rucker´s ability to introduce so many surreal concepts, and maintain even the slightest impression of control over the story.

Definitely not a linear work, White Light is more like a vast dreamscape, or intense acid trip, where Rucker casts up a cacophony of bizarre characters, dead geniuses, and new age mysticism oddly blended with abstract mathematical theory. And while it is not a dense literary work, it is also not an easy read - it takes work to get through it. In the end, I found the effort worthwhile - but Rucker is definitely not for everyone. If you´re up for a surreal intellectual challenge, though, I´d recommend it strongly.¤

3) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. ____________________________________________
Felix Raynor is a new assistant math professor at SUCAS Bernco, a cow
college in upstate New York -- but wait, Rudy Rucker was an asst prof at
SUCAS (really) Geneseo in upstate NY, 1972-78... Raynor is struggling
to adapt to rural academe while (occasionally) working on Georg
Cantor´s Continuum Problem -- as was Rucker in RL: he started
writing WL when he got bogged down with Cantor. Raynor´s & Rucker´s
lives diverge ( I presume) when Raynor discovers astral projection and
checks into Hilbert´s Hotel on the flipside of Cimon, after getting a
personal command from Jesus Christ to climb Mt. On...

As Rucker notes in his afterword, "White Light" has "nice
visualizations of infinity, fine evocations of the time when it was
written, heartfelt attempts to break thru to ultimate truth, good surreal
imagery, and lots of laughs." It´s been on my "to read" list for years, and
I´m pleased to see it back in print.

Is it worth your $13? Ummm. Are you a serious collector/Rucker fan?
It´s certainly worth picking up at the library. If you happen to be new to
Rucker (SF´s own mad mathemagician) I´d start with "Master of Space
& Time" (1985 pb, OOP but easily found), still my favorite Rucker novel,
in which the tale of three wishes granted is explored via quantum
mechanics, with wonderfully bizarre results. The apotheosis of Harry
Gerber... I´ve read MST at least three times, & laughed aloud each time.
This is the book "White Light" is trying to be.

review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman
http://www.sfsite.com/05a/wite32.htm
¤

4) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. Light, fun writing style. Concepts beyond human comprehension presented in humorous and approachable style.

I read it again after a couple years and liked it better than I had the first time.¤

5) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. This is an interesting and amusing novel. It deals with some deep
things like infinity, consciousness, and the nature of reality.
As a physicist, I appreciated that the author connects the plot to
some actual mathematical truths in speculating about an alternate
reality and alternate states of consciousness. In addition it is just
an amusing and thought-provoking book. The plot is sort of dark
i.e. the characters are troubled and there is some drug use. This
may be a reflection of the author´s own experiences or just his views
on modern life. I could certainly empathize with the characters and
enjoy the sort of dark humor that runs through this book, however
some other readers may not.¤

6) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. Felix Rayman spends the day teaching indifferent students, pondering his theories on infinity, and daydreaming. When his dreams finally separate him from his physical body, Felix plunges headfirst into a multidimensional universe beyond the limits of space and time — the place of White Light.¤

7) Paperback Book White Light (277p) by Ace. Malcontent mathematics instructor Feliz Raymond´s afternoon naps are the subject of Rudy Rucker´s strange and delightful White Light. Bored with his life and job at a state university in New York and making no headway in solving Georg Cantor´s Continuum Problem, Raymond finds himself every afternoon, lying flat on his floor, entering into a state of lucid dreaming that allows him to explore an entirely new surreal and mathematically-charged reality. What follows is an adventure through time and space, the likes of which only a collaboration between Umberto Eco and Lewis Carroll could attempt. With traveling companions ranging from Einstein to the devil to a giant beetle named Franx, Raymond explores the infinite reaches of his new playground, which is filled with a multitude of cultural and scientific references, some subtle and many overt. Each turned corner of White Light is another gleeful surprise, another celebration of cleverness and imagination. Rucker, who is just as comfortable presenting accessible introductions to modern ideas in geometry (The Fourth Dimension: A Guided Tour of the Higher Universes) as he is spinning yarns of hacker fiction (The Hacker and the Ants), wrote this novel while, like the protagonist, endeavoring to solve Cantor´s Continuum Problem at a state university in New York. This novel belongs to the tradition of science fiction pioneered by H. G. Wells, where the science is the source of intrigue that adventures grow from and propel the protagonists.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 2-Dec-2008, 04418856409780441885640, 400-730-710-980-321-851-8

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