Mad Professor: The Uncollected Short Stories of Rudy Rucker [Paperback]

Rudy Rucker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 2006

At the untamed frontiers of intelligence, consciousness, matter, and reality lies Rudy Rucker's The Mad Professor, a collection of twelve mind-bending science fiction stories that probe the outer limits of possibility. Rucker, an accomplished computer scientist and mathematician with numerous science books and novels to his credit, brings his deep and varied knowledge of the mind, mathematics, and the ever-weird and wondrous workings of the physical universe to the stories collected here. In Chu and the Nants we read of a bizarre future following a Verge Singularity, in which hyperintelligent computers have taken over the solar system. Panpsychism Proved breaks down the boundaries between mind and matter, exploring the notion that "every object has a mind." And Six Thought Experiments Concerning the Nature of Computation is an exhilarating collection of mini-stories taking us to the outrageous extremes of theoretical speculation. In The Mad Professor, Rucker deploys the full range of his writing talent and scientific knowledge to take us on a wild romp through the known, the unknown, and the awesomely peculiar.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Much cyberpunk SF is grimly noir in depicting future-shocked people trapped by their limitations, but in this collection of 19 laid-back yarns, Rucker (Mathematicians in Love) finds human dilemmas much too important to take seriously. "Jenna and Me," for example, co-written with his son Rudy Rucker Jr., shows President Bush's daughter brain-wiped by agents of the "conspiracy elite," but eventually becoming the unwitting focus for an alien invasion that may remake humanity for the better. "Junk DNA," a collaboration with Bruce Sterling, depicts the accidental benefits of unprincipled commercial exploitation of bioscience. Other stories emphasize extreme physical transformation, positive or negative results of thought experiments, and cheerful horniness. While readers who want rigorously developed plots or characterization may be disappointed, those who can groove on something like a collaboration between Italo Calvino and Jimmy Buffett will find themselves grinning and humming along. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

Often cited as one of the original cyberpunk pioneers, Rucker has channeled his groundbreaking ideas and yen for mathematics into almost 30 volumes of fiction and cerebral nonfiction over as many years. His latest book of stories finds him in fine form, extrapolating number theory into madcap tales about quantum elves and lotto-playing programmers. Five of the 13 pieces are collaborations with other notable sf veterans, such as Bruce Sterling and John Shirley. In "2+2=5," written with Terry Bisson, two nursing home-bound seniors zero in on breaking the world counting record. "Cobb Wakes Up" recounts the fate of a long-dead robot inventor resurrected as a conscious computer program. In perhaps the volume's most satirical entry, "The Men in the Backroom at the Country Club," aliens infiltrate Rucker's former home base of Lynchburg, Virginia, and meet their unlikely nemesis in the form of the town's religious zealots. A delight for both Rucker devotees and sf fans who prefer that their fiction be a little zany. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (December 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560259744
• ISBN-13: 978-1560259749
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mad Professor: The Uncollected Short Stories of Rudy Rucker, May 29, 2007

By 

Howard Hastings "hghastings" (San Francisco Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mad Professor: The Uncollected Short Stories of Rudy Rucker (Paperback)

Another enjoyable and oftimes thought provoking book by Rudy Rucker - being a collection of short stories this is an easy read. For fans of the "Ware" novel series, "Cobb Wakes Up" is set in that worldview.

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully Rucker, January 19, 2010

By 

B. Landry "Exstus" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mad Professor: The Uncollected Short Stories of Rudy Rucker (Paperback)

Engaging, mind-bending, whimsical & funny! I discovered Rudy Rucker through his non-fiction, and was delighted to discover that his science fiction is excellent as well. Thoroughly entertaining.

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, July 24, 2008

By 

ancientdruid1424 "ancientdruid1424" (Baton Rouge, LA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mad Professor: The Uncollected Short Stories of Rudy Rucker (Paperback)

Just not very good. Not really science fiction. Undisciplined and an acquired taste. Not very logically constructed. If you like David Brin or Larry Niven or Alastair Reynolds, you won't like Rudy Rucker as an author.