White light
White Light is a work of science fiction by Rudy Rucker published in 1980 by Virgin Books in the UK and Ace Books in the US. It was written while Rucker was teaching mathematics at the University of Heidelberg from 1978 to 1980, at roughly the same time he was working on the non-fiction book Infinity and the Mind.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
7mentions
5people
2011–2025years
71% recommend29% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Another non-textbook: White Light by Rudy Rucker.
- The book that really helped me grok this was White Light by Rudy Rucker.
- White Light by Rudy Rucker illustrates set theory in a way I found very inspirational.
- I've been striking out with my fiction lately with one dud after another. Thanks for these excellent suggestions. I'm ready to dive back in.
Three books that I haven't seen listed, but were impactful on my life:
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita -- Incredible writing, maybe the best ever. And english was Nabokov's second language. Don't miss this just because of the creepy subject matter or because you saw one of the movies. This is an incredible read and one of the English languages greatest books.
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses -- I initially put off reading this by McCarthy's singular use of punctuation and his long, spare sentences. But I picked up the audiobook from Books on Tape (pre Audible) and fell into it. When read by a talented narrator its like poetry (and I mean that in a good way). When I finished it I immediatly rewound the tapes and listened to it again.
Rudy Rucker, White Light -- I read this 38 years ago and still think of it often. Think Alice in Wonderland written by William Burroughs and Kurt Godel. Giant cockroaches, absolute infinite, the devil harvesting souls, Albert Einstein, the Banach–Tarski paradox: its a wild ride. Hard to find but available on Kindle.
- For a fictional, tripped-out exploration of the various levels of infinity, try Rudy Rucker's White Light:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Light_(novel)
I picked this up at a end of line book shop when I was 13 or 14, along with a bunch of other Wired Press books, and it blew my mind.
- Rudy Rucker - that's a name I've not heard in a while. I still have a copy of White Light kicking about, not sure I understood it mind you...
