On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, dmolnar wrote:
It's also strange that there are relatively few science fiction books which talk about math. There are some noted short story collections (_The Mathematical Magpie_ and its sequel), short stories (Asimov's story about rediscovering "graphitics," Heinlein's "And He Built A Crooked House"), and authors (Rudy Rucker), but nowhere near the volume of SF based on physics.
Perhaps it's that there are fewer people familiar with math than with physics - which leads to fewer people writing such fiction and a smaller market for it. The same is true for crypto, except more so.
Start with, Mathenauts: Tales of Mathematical Wonder ed. Rudy Rucker ISBN 0-87795-891-2 0-87795-890-4 (pbk.) Stories by, Rucker, Asimov, Kagan, Bear, Berman, Dnieprov, Gardner, Watson, Cramer, Zebrowski, Hofstadter, Sakers, Orr, Laidlaw, Sheckley, Gross, Pohl, & Benford. There was supposed to be a second volume, don't know if it ever saw the light of day... Most of Ruckers fiction is related to math/physics, Spacetime Donuts White Light (What is Cantor's Continuum Problem?) The Fifty-sixth Franz Kafka The Sex Sphere Master of Space and Time ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------