Description:

A wild, funny tale. Two young mathematicians compete for the love of two women across space, time and logic—spinning out Dr. Seuss-like mathematical mumbo jumbo along the way. Our hero Bela befriends a giant jellyfish god, wins his true love, and alters reality in a new way. ### From Publishers Weekly Rucker cleverly pulls off a romantic comedy about mathematicians in love. Following 2004's *Frek and the Elixir* , this even zanier excursion into alternative versions of Berkeley, Calif., is set in university towns called Humelocke and Klownetown, full of quirky, charming life-forms human and otherwise and ruled by a god who's the female jellyfish-creator of Earth. All this seethes around Bela Kis; Bela's roommate, Paul Bridge; and Bela's girlfriend, Alma Ziff, who ping-pongs between them in a sometimes acute, sometimes obtuse love triangle. Bela and Paul struggle for their Ph.D.s under mad math genius Roland Haut by inventing a paracomputer "Gobubble" that predicts future events. While most of the mathematical flights may stun hapless mathophobes, Rucker's wild characters, off-the-wall situations and wicked political riffs prove that writing SF spoofs, like Bela's rock music avocation, "beats the hell out of publishing a math paper." *(Dec.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Bookmarks Magazine Rudy Rucker, formerly a professor of mathematics and computer science, has traveled both into the past and into the future in novels including *As Above, So Below* (2002) and *Frek and the Elixir* (2004). *Mathematicians* , which **takes place in a contemporary Berkeley-ish setting, offers a "transrealist" and satirical look into academic competition, modern culture, and love. Although the speculative math and science will please knowledgeable fans of those subjects, there's nothing too technical that a larger audience wouldn't enjoy. A few critics commented on some slow, tedious detours, clichéd writing, and a glibness that traded depth for entertainment, but—despite its preposterous storyline—* Mathematicians* is a worthwhile, imaginative read. *Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.*