The Mathematics of Magic (L. Sprague De Camp) (Hardcover)

~ L. Sprague de Camp; Fletcher Pratt (Author), Mark L. Olson (Editor), Marc Fishman (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

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Whoopee! De Camp and Pratt's Enchanter stories are all back in print at once. Legendary among sf and fantasy buffs as some of the brainiest, cheeriest, most affectionate exploitations of traditional and literary mythology, they're about a passel of scientifically savvy psychologists ensconced at a private psychiatric hospital in 1940s Middle America, who discover how to adjust reality via symbolic logic so they can travel to realms otherwise visitable only imaginarily. The youngest and brashest of them leads the way to the world of the Norse gods. In subsequent jaunts to the environs of Spenser's Faerie Queene, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, the Finnish Kalevala, and the Irish Táin, his colleagues join him, and a denizen or two of the worlds visited come to this reality, too. Blending vigorous adventure and incidental humor, the stories, two more of which de Camp wrote four decades after Pratt's death in the 1950s, are like Indie Jones' exploits without the cussing and sneering. Their most obvious ancestor may be Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee, but unlike the rigidly antitraditional Twain, de Camp and Pratt love what they make fun of. Olson, Ray
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Product Description

Harold Shea is a psychologist who dreams of adventure, but never gets beyond learning to fence and occasionally showing up at staff meetings dressed in horseback riding garb. But when he learns that his boss, Dr. Reed Chalmers, has developed a theory which allows a person to transport himself to any world he can imagine, Harold Shea decides to give it a whirl. This volume includes all the De Camp and Pratt Enchanter stories.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: NESFA Press; 1 edition (February 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886778655
• ISBN-13: 978-1886778658
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #402,780 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harold is a psychologist who dreams of adventure, September 2, 2007

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Harold is a psychologist who dreams of adventure, but when his boss develops a theory which lets a person transport himself into any world he can imagine, he finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime - one in which he travels through mythology's finest gods and adventurers. DeCamp and Pratt's 'Enchanter' stories follow his fantasy encounters and makes for engrossing, fun reading especially recommended for fantasy libraries also holding DeCamp's works.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good magical fantasy, December 17, 2008

By	Kevin P. Lees (Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's both adventurous and entertaining. I like that the authors seem to be well-informed on myths and historical literature and that they supply an intelligent 'rationale' for the magic. It's a bit too magic for me personally, scenes change in a whisk, I prefer the Conan and Unbeheaded King stories. Real fantasy aficionados should like it, I believe!

4.0 out of 5 stars Still full of wonder after 38 years, October 19, 2009

By	J. B Kraft "lonestargazer" (Palestine, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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I first bought these wonderful stories in a paperback release when I was in college, and loved them then. Sometimes, you go back to revisit a cherished book from an earlier era, and you may find it has lost something -- like unexpectedly running into an old flame at a funeral, only to wonder what you ever had in common with them.

I got the same sense of wonder reading these volumes (in this excellent hardbound volume) that I did in college. It helps if you are familiar with Norse mythology, or the Song of Roland, or Spencer's Faerie Queene, but the premise that magic operates according to discernable psychological laws in another dimension is a favorite of mine, and here it rises to an art form. Into these worlds go primarily two modern academics who have exotic adventures and meet amazing characters. Don't let the arcane language (at times) be offputting or the somewhat antique views and customs of the "modern world". These are just wonderful stories, in and of themselves, which largely loveable characters.