MATHEMATICAL FICTION:

a list compiled by Alex Kasman (College of Charleston)

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What Dead Men Tell (1949)
Theodore Sturgeon
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Contributed by "William E. Emba"

A supergenius discovers a secret society amongst us that is guarding the secret of immortality. He elects to take their entry examination, which has immediate death as the price of failure.

The last problem is to recognize and decode the unusual geometry of a certain corridor. Mathematicians will recognize what's going on immediately.

Contributed by Doug Jones

"A wonderful story. Makes the implausible seem natural...I got to meet him, and he was one of my idols. The collection IMAGINATION UNLIMITED was where I read it, since been burgled by a klepto fan, alas. The kind of story the OUTER LIMITS could have done well!"

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 What Dead Men Tell
According to my `secret formula', the following works of mathematical fiction are similar to this one:
  1. The Professor's Experiments - The Dimension of Time by Paul Bold
  2. Axiom of Dreams by Arula Ratnakar
  3. The Island of Five Colors by Martin Gardner
  4. Vault of the Beast by Alfred Elton van Vogt
  5. Misfit by Robert A. Heinlein
  6. Love and a Triangle by Stanley Waterloo
  7. The Second Moon by Russell R. Winterbotham
  8. The Cube Root of Conquest by Rog Phillips
  9. The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges
  10. Star, Bright by Mark Clifton
Ratings for What Dead Men Tell:
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:
4/5 (2 votes)
..
Literary Quality:
5/5 (2 votes)
.

Categories:
GenreScience Fiction,
MotifGenius,
TopicGeometry/Topology/Trigonometry,
MediumShort Stories,

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Exciting News: The 1,600th entry was recently added to this database of mathematical fiction! Also, for those of you interested in non-fictional math books let me (shamelessly) plug the recent release of the second edition of my soliton theory textbook.

(Maintained by Alex Kasman, College of Charleston)