Imaginary Numbers : An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings

Rating:
Summary: Mathematics in unusual places
Review: Mathematics can be a part of fiction in many ways, and this collection has some of the most unusual that I have ever read. However, it is unusual in the delightful rather than distasteful sense. As a fan of science fiction, I have always found the inclusion of mathematics in fiction to be some of the best written of all the stories I have read. I found these stories, all previously published, to be entertaining and often very subtle in the points that were made.
Some of the stories are classics. There is an excerpt from Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott, what I believe to be the best piece of mathematical fiction ever written and a piece by Martin Gardner, the best mathematical populist that has ever lived. Stanislaw Lem's story about the hotel with a countably infinite number of rooms is one of the best expositions of the apparent paradoxes of the countably infinite set that has ever been created. It could be used as a textbook example to explain this often difficult point.
If you like fiction with a point to make based on applications of some serious science, then you will find these stories well worth reading.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

Rating:
Summary: A dash of elegance science fictions
Review: This book is a good starting point for the journey to the 'dark' science-philosophical-fiction reading. Featuring from Lewis Carroll's work to Italo Calvino, it provides a wide range of mathematical-fiction and poetry collection (ie. how love can be so similar to parallel lines). A definite must, especially for mathematician!

Rating:
Summary: A dash of elegance science fictions
Review: This book is a good starting point for the journey to the 'dark' science-philosophical-fiction reading. Featuring from Lewis Carroll's work to Italo Calvino, it provides a wide range of mathematical-fiction and poetry collection (ie. how love can be so similar to parallel lines). A definite must, especially for mathematician!

Rating:
Summary: For Anthology Lovers
Review: This book is undoubtedly "An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings." This collection of works spans a broad field of all types of literary genres: from fantacy to philosophy, from sci-fi to logic, from wonderfully outrageous to profoundly simple. Anyone with a taste for short stories and poetry will be able to appreciate the thought-provoking material presented in this anthology. For instance, one can learn what life would be like in a two-dimentional universe. Or one can travel to a land where improbable dragons become probable and pop into existance out of thin air. And one can ponder the similarities between love and parallel lines. I found this book to be at times funny and also serious. It has something for everyone. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: For Anthology Lovers
Review: This book is undoubtedly "An Anthology of Marvelous Mathematical Stories, Diversions, Poems, and Musings." This collection of works spans a broad field of all types of literary genres: from fantacy to philosophy, from sci-fi to logic, from wonderfully outrageous to profoundly simple. Anyone with a taste for short stories and poetry will be able to appreciate the thought-provoking material presented in this anthology. For instance, one can learn what life would be like in a two-dimentional universe. Or one can travel to a land where improbable dragons become probable and pop into existance out of thin air. And one can ponder the similarities between love and parallel lines. I found this book to be at times funny and also serious. It has something for everyone. Enjoy.