Product Description
Rudy Rucker, a world-famous mathematician and a descendant of the philosopher Hegel, is the author of a number of popular science books including the bestselling The Fourth Dimension. In Saucer Wisdom, he creates a non-fiction novel, using himself as the central character. Rucker the character, is given views of the future of technology and society, especially in California, by a man abducted by the inhabitants of a tiny flying saucer.Amazon.com Review
Are there aliens watching you right now? After reading RudyRucker's Saucer Wisdom, you'll wonder. Rucker's "nonfictionnovel" follows the author as he works with a saucer contactee who hasbales of information about the future and expects him to make a bookout of it. Written straight, it presents the author's vision of futuretechnology as though benevolent aliens were filling him in, thoughsome of the details seem suspiciously similar to his novels. It'sbrilliantly funny, prescient, and as fully engaging as a coffee-fueledlate-night conversation with a slightly manic genius. From thealoof-yet-naughty aliens (they refuse to show his contactee friend thefuture of artificial intelligence because it's "boring") to thedetailed, personalized visions of future people's technology,Saucer Wisdom shines with a humanity firmly rooted right hereon Earth.

Rucker's style is perfect for this material, and his imagination soars. What if aliens travel through complex interstellar radio signals and are attracted to chaos? What if we develop telepathy transmitted over television? What if we perfect genetic engineering? It wouldn't occur to other futurists to suggest a half-dozen pet compsognathii in the backyard of the future, but Rucker goes a step further and literally draws a picture. The 57 illustrations--attributed to Frank the contactee--highlight the text like James Thurber on acid. Saucer Wisdom could have been as boring as most other future histories, but it seems that "the William S. Burroughs of cyberpunk" can't help but write good books. Lucky for us. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

This book must have the highest ratio of ideas to page numbers ever.
This book is full of brilliant and original sci-fi ideas.
Most authors get by with one good idea per book.
With this book your getting close to a idea every new page.
Some pages have 2 or 3 ideas.

The idea for contacting the Aliens via the 3 TVs
is especially good.

A masterpiece.

entertaining but not one of Rucker's better works
Saucer Wisdom is Rudy Rucker's "nonfiction" book describing the travels of a man he meets after one of his lectures who has been in contact with aliens. Rucker asks the man, Frank Shook, to ask various questions of the aliens--about the future of communications, bioengineering, travel, the nature of time, and transhumanity. The book amounts to a future history of the world according to Rudy Rucker, the elements of which are familiar to anyone who has read Rucker's other books (in particular the Software/Wetware/Freeware/Realware series, and especially the last two).

The "nonfiction" narrative structure makes for a more entertaining book than this would otherwise be--while the future developments Rucker envisions are interesting, without the story it would be more like a series of encyclopedia entries.

The conceit within the book of this book being popular thousands of years in the future is pretty ridiculous--this is not one of Rucker's better works.

Fun read... don't take it seriously
This book is not about flying saucers.The flying saucer plot is just the narrative device used by Rucker to allow him to dump from his brain a collection of very imaginative ideas about what technological advances we may make over the next few thousand years.Some of the ideas are actually really clever and interesting... and then, a bit too often, they get really silly and much less believable.But, that is where you have to realize that the book is not to be taken so seriously.If you can do that, you should enjoy the book all the way thru... it's a quick read.

I wouldn't recommend this for hard-core sci-fi folk, but rather for the casual sci-fi reader who is looking for something off the wall, and also maybe for someone looking to kick-start their imagination.

Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't?
____________________________________

Just finished this "speculative nonfiction" book by one of my
favorite SF writers. Eh. It's structured "as told by" a UFO abductee
(nudge, wink), or as B. Sterling writes in the intro: "This book is not
the puerile ravings of a UFO-stricken madman, but a *firmly
controlled, intelligent* hallucination...."

Umm. The ideas are mostly recycled from Rucker's fiction (where I
much preferrred them), and told in the kind of fake-future dialog
that I've always *loathed* in pop-sci books. Admittedly, RR's
novelistic talent shines through at times, but it's a pretty clunky
book overall.

The morning after finishing "Saucer Wisdom", the Nov 99 Analog
arrived, andTom Easton notes, in a generally favorable review, that he prefers RR's
pop-sci books to his fiction. Although I agree with Easton's reviews
more often than not,I think just the opposite here; I tried another Rucker pop-sci AWB, and
put it down after a few chapters.

So who knows? Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't.Eh.

YMMV -- Pete Tillman

The future through the eyes of a flying saucer...
Well, the flying saucer is not a real saucer, but a device used by Rudy Rucker to allow us to see the future through the eyes of a character, Frank Shook, who travels through time with the aliens.We learn about how things will change, or how Rudy THINKS things will change, in the future.He writes about transhumanity, alien races, faster-than-light space travel, time travel, cloning, future forms of communication, energy sources, farming, organic houses, hardware, software and even wetware.All of it becomes, like much of what we discover, a cause and effect series of events, as one idea brings about another.Not as serious as Wells' 'A Story of The Days to Come' or as detailed as Stapledon's 'Last And First Men' it IS funny, interesting and will make you think. ... Read more

Product Description
Now available in paperback, Mind Tools connects mathematics to the world around us. Reveals mathematics' great power as an alternative language for understanding things and explores such concepts as logic as a computing tool, digital versus analog processes and communication as information transmission. 150 line drawings. 10,000 print. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Weird and very interesting book
There's a lot to whet the mathematical appetite in this book.There is also a bit to frustrate and, in places, annoy that appetite.Overall, MT is a very interesting book.For the most part, it is accessible to any reader.In it's closing section -- on Goedel's theorem, decidability, the halting problem, information and related matter -- things get pretty abstruse fast.If you're not already familiar with these topics, it requires an act of considerable concentration to navigate the formalism of these sections.But doing so rewards the effort.I can't say I got (or bothered to labor over) all the details, but I did get the big picture.And it's a pretty breathtaking view.MT is a book I think I'll return to down the road, having done some additional reading on these topics, to ponder some more.A very thought-provoking read for sure.

Mind Tools
Rudy Rucker links mathematics to reality and explains 5 ways we can look at it: in terms of number, space, logic, infinity and information. The concepts explained are rather simple to understand and I'm pretty sure everyone will find some things they didn't know before. Later in a book he argues that "reality as information" may be the most correct view and our universe can indeed be a computational process.
I suggest people whose interest touches corners of math read the book, otherwise you may get bored.

Ends with erroneous conclusions
On the last page of this book, after bouncing around and occasionally relying on cutesy dialogue, the author makes five conclusions. Each appears below, with reviewer comments immediately after

1. The world can be resolved into digital bits, with each bit made of smaller bits.

By definition, a digital bit is irreducible, so the sentence makes no sense.

2. These bits form a fractal pattern in fact-space.

Fractals are noted for having the appearance of complexity, even though they are defined by very simple rules. All information indicates that the rules that define the universe are more complex than the human mind can comprehend.

3. The pattern behaves like a cellular automaton.

A cellular automaton is defined by rules where life and death are determined by the status of neighbors. By their definition, facts do not live or die on the basis of their neighbors.

4. The pattern is inconceivably large in size and dimensions.

No argument here.

5.Although the world started very simply, its computation is irreducibly complex.

The author is the only person that I have ever encountered who considers the world to have had simple origins. The second part is a direct contradiction to statements 1, 2, and 3, particularly 1.

Another distressing situation occurs when the author coins the word numberskulls. An obvious allusion to numskulls and used to refer to people who reduce things to numbers, it is a very poor joke. While this may appeal to those afraid of numbers, it ignores the fact the modern world has a numeric definition.
If you are looking for a book dealing with the world and how it functions, reach past this one and grab "The Emperor's New Mind" by Roger Penrose (Oxford University Press, 1989). It costs a little more, but is well worth it.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.

inspiring
Page 32 gives a chart which shows the evolution of the strands of mathematics from ancient times until the present. This makes the book.

Mind (Expanding) Tools
Really nice survey of important ideas underneath the application of mathematics to real world analysis and understanding. Actually started a company based on one of his "someone should write a progam that ..." statements. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the coming revolution in art, technology, media, chemistry, science, and music discusses amino chemistry, manotechnology, high-tech paganism, teledildonics, and more.$75,000 ad/promo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Window on an era
First off, I hope the seller's name appears linked to this review because they totally misrepresented the condition. It was disgustingly spattered with gawd-knows-what which had to be removed with rubbing alcohol before I could touch it without getting queasy. The corners were dog-eared, actually folded inside for several pages and it had obviously been dropped.

Fortunately this didn't affect the content which was a trippy visit to Bezerkeley during the era when the internet was just beginning, smart drugs, raves, Burroughs, Leary, hacking as a noble endeavor and "that whole scene." It's also amusing to compare the predictions in various articles with the reality today.

The year was 1992 and there was a future of techno-shamen, raves, and cyberpunk computing
Instead we got Windows 95, AOL users on the Internet, LinkedIn, and the RIAA/MPAA lawsuits. Oh yeah, and this book is still around. It probably looked dated to the folks in the offset printing factory, but it's a fun, colorful, vibrantly funky dated. It's a great read of the late, somewhat lamented, Mondo 2000 crowd.

90's nostalgia
This book was a very fun find for me, especially as I live in a more rural area and missed a lot of the "Cyberculture" including most of Mondo 2000's run...Oh, well...

I really liked reading from it, and even now it would be worth a look.

If you read mondo 2000, there are no surprises here, but...
If you have read Mondo 2000 before, then nothing in this book will be much of a surprise.In fact in 1998 this book is clearly retro.Still, to the new reader you will find much of the information interesting.The format is basically an A-Z of popular memes and cultural phenomena with a pseudo hypertext interface.
High gloss and flashy.Suitable for a coffee table, but you might want to keep it on your reference shelf.

Very '1990' look at the future
A very 1990 look at the future, but well done withgood graphics. Covers music, fashion, Industry,etc. ... Read more

Product Description
In the year 3003, nothing in the world is the same, except maybe that adolescents are still embarrassed by their parents. Society and the biosphere alike have been transformed by biotechnology, and the natural world is almost gone.

Frek Huggins is a boy from a broken family, unusual becaise he wasconceived without technological help or genetic modifications. His dad, Carb, is a malcontent who left behind Frek’s mom and the Earth itself several years ago.

Everything changes when Frek finds the Anvil, a small flying saucer, under his bed, and it tells himhe is destined to save the world. The repressive forces of Gov, the mysterious absolute ruler of Earth, descend on Frek, take away the Anvil, and interrogate him forcefully enough to damage his memory. Frek flees with Wow, his talking dog, to seek out Carb and some answers. But the untrustworthy alien in the saucer has other plans, including claiming exclusive rights to market humanity to the galaxy at large, and making Frek a hero.

Frek and the Elixir is a profound, playful SF epic by the wild and ambitious Rudy Rucker.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

how did rucker develop a reputation?
maybe it's the name "rudy rucker" which makes people want to read his novels.i mean, i've read three of his novels now, and each one i thought was childish and just plain awful.for some reason i kept reading.finally, i'm over it, and i won't be touching another rucker novel.

i vaguely remember this novel.what i do remember is having the same feeling i'm left with after the other two rucker novels i've read - that it was written by a teenager who throws out enough cyberpunk catchphrases to cover up his lack of scientific knowledge and writing abilities.

bleh.

Rucker is both a literary and science master
I fell in love with Rucker's work after reading Spaceland, and Frek and the Elixir proved to be yet another science and literary masterpiece.Rucker makes the most complex aspects of science obtainable to the average reader who has a bit of imagination.Rucker is a pure creative genius.Frek and the Elixir is a wonderful tale that I would highly recommend to any reader who enjoys imaginative stories that offer a bit of science education at the same time.

Godzoon Goggy Gollywog
This has got to be one of the most inventive and imaginative novels in recent memory. Rudy Rucker has created an astonishingly creative story by mixing well-drawn comedy and drama with the latest knowledge in biotech, computing, and quantum physics. Not to mention a visual richness that will turn on the inner freakiness of even the most stoic reader. Here we have the adventures of 12 year-old Frek, who lives in the 31st century in a world of forced conformity, and where a megalomaniac biotech corporation has eliminated most of the Earth's life forms, patented the genomes of the few remaining utilitarian species (including humans), and prohibited reproduction except by contract. Meanwhile, several different species of aliens are trying to turn the human race into a giant reality show, via interactive technologies controlled by weird multi-dimensional demigods. In short, Frek is the chosen human negotiator, and decides to bargain for the return of Earth's lost species in a deadly high-stakes production deal, becoming a hero in the process.

Thanks to Rucker's knowledge of advanced science and the wildest future possibilities of technology, this novel benefits from a setting and characters quite unlike most sci-fi. The story is overflowing with crazy but strangely possible biotech and interactive technologies, while Rucker has also turned up the creativity meter with loads of inventively bizarre and truly "alien" aliens (I especially liked the wisecracking Orpolese and the droll Unipuskers). Rucker has also envisioned a completely mindboggling method of space travel called yunching, which is based on actual currently-known concepts from superstring theory. In a few places, Rucker lets the plotline slip while breathlessly inventing pile upon pile of future phenomena, but this is a novel that is as relentlessly fascinating as it is fun and empathetic. There are even good themes of friendship and family lurking beneath the wild and wooly sci-fi wonderments. This novel is highly recommended for any reader looking for something both really new and really different. [~doomsdayer520~]

Fun novel full of biological, mathematical, and physically cool ideas
Here is a rather delightful novel from Rudy Rucker. Frek and the Elixir is set more or less at the next millennium -- to be exact, in 3003. Hundreds of years before, NuBioCom destroyed the remaining natural species on Earth, and replaced them with a very few genetically engineered variants. They even destroyed the records of the genetic code of the natural species. Now, in 3003, Houses are grown from trees, the only pets are dogs, much of the food comes from anyfruit trees, and in many other ways it is clear that species diversity is rare. Frek Huggins is a 12-year-old boy living with his mother and his two sisters. He resents the fact that his father, Carb, left for the asteroids several years before. His life is nominally fairly pleasant but he doesn't quite fit in.

Then a flying saucer shows up, looking, it appears, for Frek. Frek is suddenly the object of the not-entirely-friendly attentions of the "counselors" of Gov, the worm-like alien that controls his city. He finds a saucer under his bed, and inside it is an alien cuttlefish, who assures him he will save the world and find the elixir that will restore the natural species to Earth. But Gov's representatives are not happy, and soon Frek is fleeing, at first into the dangerous Grulloo woods, home to many unusual kritters such as the Grulloo, intelligent people consisting of only a head, a tail, and two arms. Frek and a Grulloo make their way to Stun City to free the captured saucer and kill Gov -- but that doesn't work quite as expected. Soon they are off on a trip around the Galaxy, and indeed to different "branes". The situation is a lot more complicated than expected. Frek is to act as agent for a group of aliens who want to control the broadcasting of human experience to eager alien "viewers" -- but that broadcasting might also include mind control. And there are other aliens interested in controlling the same rights. Moreover, Frek meets his father, in the company of his new girlfriend and her daughter Renata. Naturally, sparks fly between Frek and Renata. So things continue, with visits to a number of alien milieus, some really fun and wacky SFnal ideas, and with Frek always keeping in mind not only the saving of the Earth's ecosystem, and the freeing of humans from potential mind control, but the restoring of his family.

I don't think I've really captured the fun of this novel very well. Rucker has long been known as an ideas man, and he doesn't disappoint here, with a couple of nicely portrayed alien species, some interesting mathematical and physical notions, and lots of clever biological ideas. The plot is not quite as successful, though it is fun to follow -- still, Frek's powers grow alarmingly as the novel continues, and the ultimate resolution, though emotionally satisfying, isn't fully convincing. The novel, with its 12-year-old protagonist, has a rather YA feel to it, though distinctly in the "YA to please adults" mode -- that is, I think it's a novel that will wow teen readers, but it's also quite fun for adults. I liked it, at any rate!

Excellent Story; Excellent Allegory
This book is simply one of the best science fiction titles to be written.The main character is young, true, but this is soon forgotten in the complex, intriguing, and yes, allegorical storyline.The book is Rucker's denoucement of monoculture, a perfect statement for our day and age.The innovation in this book is spectacular; no old reused ideas here.I strongly recommend this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Time for a new edition of this!
My copy of this great book is in a box somewhere, but I have a powerful hankerin' to read it again.New edition, please!This is the best distillation of Rucker's odd writing-- odd but wonderful.He's almost never without his tongue thrust firmly in his cheek in these stories, but the scientific and mathematical principles he's dealing with are thoroughly discussed and dissected.It's HARD to describe Rucker-- better to read some of his novels (Master of Space and Time, Wetware/Software/Freeware, The Sex Sphere, White Light, the Hollow Earth), all of which show a loose, easygoing style mixed with challenging theory-- kind of a cross between JD Salinger and Larry Niven.(But better than that sounds...)Anyway, Transreal! is a great collection of Rucker's short stories, many of which I remember well even 10 years later-- try out "The 57th Franz Kafka" and you'll see what I mean.If you find a reasonably-priced copy of this, leap! ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Dick Awards. At present he edits the science fiction webzine Flurb. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent Read.
Being a huge fan of Poe, I really enjoyed this book.This is the only book of Rucker I have read, so I cannot compare it to his other writings, but I thought the book was great.It provides a fantastic escape into another world!

Very amusing for Poe fans-- imaginative and fun.
Like the reviewer below, I've read almost all of Rucker's work, including his short-story output, which is excellent.Unlike him, I really enjoyed this book.Poe fans and lit majors will get a kick out of it, and casualreaders of SF will enjoy it as well.Perhaps not as good as theSoftware/Wetware/Freeware novels, but very enjoyable, and on a par withWhite Light and Secret of Life.

For the love of god, avoid this book.
First, I have to say that I'm a long running fan of Rudy Rucker, and have read every book he's written, fiction and non-fiction. To this day, Software, Wetware, and Freeware reign as three of my favorite books. I read (though struggled would be a better word) through this book, foreverkeeping an open mind, hoping that it would get better, but could only cometo the conclusion that this is a bad book. It's vaguely interesting atpoints, and Edgar Allan Poe being one of the main characters is kind offun, but overall, it's a childish, boring, and uninteresting pile of trash.Seriously. If you see it, burn it. If you have already read this book,please don't let it deter you from his other works, such as"Software", "Wetware", "Freeware", and"Hacker and the ants".It pains me to think that Mr. Ruckerwrote a book as bad as this. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
With their hard-edged, street-wise prose, they created frighteningly probable futures of high-tech societies and low-life hustlers. Fans and critics call their world cyberpunk. Here is the definitive "cyberpunk" short fiction collection. HC: Arbor House. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Could be better??
Either I do not believe the book has a good selection of Cyberpunk stories collection, or there are not that many good Cyberpunk stories??Being a classical Sci-fi fan reading all those Asimov and classical stuff, this sort of new blood stories doesn't live up to it.May be I haven't seen the real good Cyberpunk story yet.But certainly not this collection.

for cyberpunk n00bs and other scifi lovers
A battered copy lives in my nightstand at all times.Between novels, I always come back to this, flipping through the pages until a word catches my eye.Such a diversity of talent, mixed together quite well here.

Not Free SF Reader
Bruce Sterling's anthology Mirrorshades announced the existence of cyberpunk. A more modern type of street level, urban science fiction in a lot of cases. While the authors here have done better work elsewhere this is still a very interesting and influential collection, and certainly of use to people with an interest in that sort of science fiction.

Cadigan, Gibson and Shirley are all here, for example.

Mirrorshades : The Gernsback Continuum - William Gibson
Mirrorshades : Snake-Eyes - Tom Maddox
Mirrorshades : Rock On - Pat Cadigan
Mirrorshades : Tales of Houdini - Rudy Rucker
Mirrorshades : 400 Boys - Marc Laidlaw
Mirrorshades : Solstice - James Patrick Kelly
Mirrorshades : Petra - Greg Bear
Mirrorshades : Till Human Voices Wake Us - Lewis Shiner
Mirrorshades : Freezone - John Shirley
Mirrorshades : Stone Lives - Paul Di Filippo
Mirrorshades : Red Star Winter Orbits - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Mirrorshades : Mozart in Mirrorshades - Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner



Not a fan of retro sf design.

4 out of 5


Serpent brain wartech is problematic.

4 out of 5


Direct mental music.

3.5 out of 5


Escape master movie.

2 out of 5


Team survival is tricky.

4 out of 5


Bioguru woman's Stonehenge drug binge unhinges into cryogenic desperation.

4.5 out of 5


Gargoyle boys and girls.

3.5 out of 5


Mermaid clone affair ends quite fishily.

4 out of 5


America losing, rock is dead, gay bar's an escape.

3.5 out of 5


Corporate anarchy watching brief blackout provides relative promotion.

4.5 out of 5


Cosmonaut crapout space station hitchhikers.

4 out of 5


Let them wear leather bikinis and crave recording deals.

4 out of 5

Best Collection For the Genre
This is simply a fantastic collection of the best stories of my favorite literary subgenre, the Cyberpunk Movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. While I may not like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, I am not ignorant when it comes to their importance in popularizing and shaping the genre. Also here are Rudy Rucker, the acting grandfather of the genre; and Pat Cadigan, the Queen of Cyberpunk (even though she had very little, if any, real competition).

While there are a couple newer Cyberpunk collections, The Ultimate Cyberpunk coming to mind, the first is still the best. Not only are the stories fantastic, but the anthology didn't have to rely on a nostalgia effect, like those that are being published now.

A good introduction to the genre, as well as an essential item for one's collection.

A mixed bag, but still pretty good
This book is a collection of cyberpunk stories assembled by Bruce Sterling. It is supposedly the definitive cyberpunk fiction collection. There are some really good stories in the book such as the Gernsback Continuum, Solstice, Freezone, Till Human Voices Wake Us, Stone Lives, and Mozart with Mirrorshades. These tales had advanced technological concepts and more importantly, good stories. The stories touched on gene engineering, time travel, cybernetics, and other popular cyberpunk themes. Some of the other stories were pretty interesting, but some just didn't seem to fit. For example, Tales of Houdini and Petra seemed out of place in this collection. Though they were both sci-fi tales, they didn't seem to be cyberpunk. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Cory Doctorow, John Shirley, Rudy Rucker, Charles Stross, Lewis Shiner, Fran Ilich, Richard Kadrey, Earl S. Wynn, Bruce Bethke, Tom Maddox, Lisa Mason. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 99. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" and later popularized the concept in his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). In envisaging cyberspace, Gibson created an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. He is also credited with predicting the rise of reality television and with establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as video games and the Web. Having changed residence frequently with his family as a child, Gibson became a shy, ungainly teenager who often read science fiction. After spending his adolescence at a private boarding school in Arizona, Gibson dodged the draft during the Vietnam War by emigrating to Canada in 1968, where he became immersed in the counterculture and after settling in Vancouver eventually became a full-time writer. He retains dual citizenship. Gibson's early works are bleak, noir near-future stories about the effect of cybernetics and computer networks on humans a "combination of lowlife and high tech". The short stories were published in popular science fiction magazines. The themes, settings and characters developed in these stories culminated in his first novel, Neuromancer, which garnered critical and commercial success, virtually initiating the cyberpunk literary genre. Although much of G...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=33119 ... Read more

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Word count: 6011. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Béla H. Bánáthy, Leonard Jeffries, Sandra Gilbert, Frank Ebersole, Rudy Rucker, Carolyn Kizer, Yosh Uchida, Joseph Conrad Chamberlin, Bob Foster, Edward Stringham, Elbert Dysart Botts, Ed Allen, Daniel Goldston, Fletcher Benton, Richard O. Duda, James M. Freeman, Michael Conniff, Peter Englert, Scott Myers-Lipton, Celia Correas de Zapata. Excerpt:Bob Foster Robert "Bob" Foster (born on January 1, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York ) is the mayor of Long Beach, California . He was elected after a runoff election in 2006. Prior to serving as mayor, Foster climbed the ranks of Southern California Edison , becoming president in 2002. Though not an elected office-holder prior to becoming mayor, Foster was appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees in 1998 and worked for the California State Senate as a consultant on state energy policy. Early life Foster was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended San Jose State University for his undergraduate studies, majoring in public administration. During his college years, he operated a carpet-laying business. After graduating, he began working for the California State Senate while he began Ph.D coursework in political science at the University of California, Davis . Later, Foster worked for the Senate Energy Committee, where he helped develop legislation that created statewide energy efficiency standards. He also taught for one semester as the "Leader-in-Residence" in the Department of Political Science at San Jose State University . Election Noting his experience working in the private and public sectors, Foster campaigned on a platform that called for an end to the city's mounting deficit. He also advocated adding 100 new police officers to the streets of Long Beach and reducing traffic and pollution permeating from... ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Books by Rudy Rucker, Novels by Rudy Rucker, Ware Tetralogy, White Light, Wetware, Software, Spaceland, Mathematicians in Love, Infinity and the Mind, the Hacker and the Ants, the Fourth Dimension, Master of Space and Time. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Ware Tetralogy is a series of four science fiction novels by author Rudy Rucker: Software (1982), Wetware (1988), Freeware (1997) and Realware (2000). The first two books both received the Philip K. Dick Award for best novel. The closest to the cyberpunk genre of all his works, the tetralogy explores themes such as rapid technological change, generational differences, and recreational drug use. Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one. As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "im...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2479054 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Legit
Speaking as the author of the books being offered here, I want to say that this offer isn't really a legitimate product.

One the books of mine mentioned, THE WARE TETRALOGY is available to one and all as a free Creative Commmons download online, or as a paperback on Amazon: The Ware Tetralogy

Another of the books of mine mentioned, SPACELAND, is available in a commercial Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimensionebook edition and in paperback edition Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension, but there is no free ebook edition.

And the situation is similar for WHITE LIGHT.

So either Books LLC is directing users to free products, to commercial products, or to pirated products.There is, in any case, no reason to pay Books LLC for these links. ... Read more

Product Description
Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Rudolf von Bitter Rucker (born March 22, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American mathematician, computer scientist and science fiction author, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which (Software and Wetware) both won Philip K. Dick Awards. At present he edits the science fiction webzine Flurb. Rucker is the great-great-great-grandson of the philosopher Georg Hegel. Rucker attended St. Xavier High School before earning a B.A. in mathematics from Swarthmore College, and a Master's and Ph.D. in mathematics from Rutgers University. He taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 1972-1978. Thanks to a grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Rucker taught math at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg from 1978-1980. He then taught at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia from 1980-1982, before trying his hand as a full-time author for four years. Inspired by an interview with Stephen Wolfram, Rucker became a computer science professor at San José State University in 1986, from which he retired in 2004. A mathematician with philosophical interests, he has written The Fourth Dimension; Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension; and Infinity and the Mind. Princeton University Press published new editions of Infinity and the Mind in 1995 and in 2005, both with new prefaces; the first edition is cited with fair frequency in academic literature. As his "own alternative to cyberpunk," Rucker developed a writing style he terms Transrealism. Transrealism, as outlined in his 1983 essay "The Transrealist Manifesto," is science fiction based on the author's own life and immediate perceptions, mixed with fantastic elements that symbolize psychological change. Many of Rucker's novels and short stories apply th...http://booksllc.net/?l=de ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Ware Tetralogy, White Light, Wetware, Software, Spaceland, Mathematicians in Love, the Hacker and the Ants, Master of Space and Time. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Ware Tetralogy is a series of four science fiction novels by author Rudy Rucker: Software (1982), Wetware (1988), Freeware (1997) and Realware (2000). The first two books both received the Philip K. Dick Award for best novel. The closest to the cyberpunk genre of all his works, the tetralogy explores themes such as rapid technological change, generational differences, and recreational drug use. Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one. As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=2479054 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Legit
Speaking as the author of the books being offered here, I want to say that this isn't really a legitimate product.

The first book mentioned, THE WARE TETRALOGY is available to one and all as a free Creative Commmons download online, or as a paperback on AmazonThe Ware Tetralogy

The other books of mine mentioned are not available as free ebooks, so either Books LLC is offering pirated wares, or they are simply going to steer you to commercial purchase sites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Meet the 4th dimension
This classic introduction to the geometry of the fourth dimension remains my favorite book on the subject.The author begins with a look at the second dimension, which turns out to be useful for developing the technique of understanding higher dimensions through lower-dimensional analogies.The author has a great style for making you think about four-dimensional concepts.Some good conceptual examples and many stimulating visual images are very instructive.Interesting puzzles provide good exercises to challenge you to improve your understanding of the fourth dimension; solutions at the back of the book allow you to check your answers and reasoning.

I recommend also reading Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin Abbott, which is referenced and discussed in the text.Rudy Rucker's Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension is a similar novel of the fourth dimension.There are some modern geometric introductions to the fourth dimension, such as The Visual Guide to Extra Dimensions: Volume 1:Visualizing the Fourth Dimension, Higher-Dimensional Polytopes, and Curved Hypersurfaces, which includes many instructive illustrations.

Mind-boggling Fun
The subject of the fourth dimension has fascinated me ever since a guest lecture in middle school on the subject. I found a lengthier and more in depth treatment of the subject in the books of P.D. Ouspensky, particularly Tertium Organum and A New Model of the Universe.

In The Fourth Dimension, Rudy Rucker gives both a comprehensive history of thought on the fourth dimension, and an entertaining and lucid explanation of the concepts and implications of the existence of higher worlds. The margins include interesting excerpts ranging from Plato to Wheeler. From literature, philosophy, mathematics, Rucker gathers the many threads of research on the subject. For anyone interested in a layman's introduction to hyperdimensions, and some interesting metaphysical speculation, this is a great book.

Easy to read & worthy of attention
This book is easy to read, but electrifying.I read it when I was twelve, and it changed my life forever.I cannot imagine what kind of person I'd be if I had not read this book.

Of all the books I've read with technical basis, intending to introduce the reader to scientific or mathematical theory - this is among the most entertaining and important I've ever read.

The information in it may be too commonplace for some scientists or mathematicians, but I'd heartily recommend it to the ordinary person who's curious about the world around them!
(& To the scientists and mathematicians I'd still say ... just give a whirl.) :)

The Fourth Dimension as Higher Reality
When I first read this book some twenty years ago I found it to be absolutely mind-expanding. It made me begin to see reality in a new, larger, manner- it began to shake loose my preconceptions. Now, when I review it, I find the concepts to be commonplace. How could I have ever thought otherwise? That's a measure of the transforming process that it began in me. This book will start you on the climb to a new intellectual plateau. Even synchronicity, which I had the hardest time accepting, is now a "given" for me.

Rucker is a highly effective writer- for a mathematician. His prose is clear, readable, and humorous. Plus, he examines the subject from mathematical, scientific, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives. His use of relevant quotes throughout the work is excellent- plus there is a very good bibliography for further study.

If you do feel the need for further study (and you will) then try _Exploring the Fourth Dimension_ by Ralphs, or _Extra Dimensional Universe_ by Violette. Then perhaps you may feel up to eventually tackling _Tertium Organum_ by Ouspensky, and _The Multiple States of Being_ by Guenon.

pretty mind bending until he gets on his agenda
This book pulls together a lot of study and conjecture about higher dimensions (from everywhere from Abbot's Flatland to Einstein's relativity theory) into one volume, and explains it using easy to understand analogies and imprecise cartoons.It's really cool for a while, even though you might suspect subconsciously that it's not completely realistic to expect to fully understand all this stuff.What helps him clarify so much of these theories about extra directions and the illusions of time is his dogmatism about how within reach all of this is, and this is what hurts the later sections of the book.When he begins to try to stretch this largely impractical science to explain things that really don't seem to make sense, and does it with such a converted manner that you begin to think that he is crazy and maybe you have been being fooled a little... ... Read more