"Not A Wake" is a collection of poetry, short stories, a play, a movie script, crossword puzzles and other surprises, constructed according to a unique principle: counting the number of letters in successive words of the text (the first word has 3 letters, the next word has 1 letter, the next word has 4 letters, and so on) reveals the first 10,000 digits of the famous mathematical number pi (3.14159265358979...). Fans of the number pi, constrained writing (such as Georges Perec's "La Disparition"), wordplay, puzzles, or experimental prose and poetry will find much to savor in this, the first book-length work based on the pi constraint.
Not A Wake
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About the Author
Michael Keith is a freelance software engineer and writer of constrained prose and poetry, in which a literary composition is required to satisfy one or more lexical rules. He is the author of numerous articles and several books, including another work of constrained writing, "The Anagrammed Bible". For more news and writings, visit cadaeic.net.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Why I like a great challenge .. the number of letters in this are 3 1 4 1 5 9.
The entire book uses words that follow the sequence of Pi. When 0 appears in Pi, a ten letter word is used. This is an extreme constraint. I'd say Not A Wake is easily the best book using highly constrained writing.
Michael Keith managed to write a fascinating book, which includes such items as a crossword puzzle and a play. One of the characters in the play has a seven letter name -- so they can only talk when 7 comes up in the Pi sequence.
If you're a collector of mathematical curios, this is a book to get.
The entire book uses words that follow the sequence of Pi. When 0 appears in Pi, a ten letter word is used. This is an extreme constraint. I'd say Not A Wake is easily the best book using highly constrained writing.
Michael Keith managed to write a fascinating book, which includes such items as a crossword puzzle and a play. One of the characters in the play has a seven letter name -- so they can only talk when 7 comes up in the Pi sequence.
If you're a collector of mathematical curios, this is a book to get.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By S. Wood
Format:Paperback
This is a unique and creative work. Each chapter presents a different literary form - even haiku! I soon forgot about the "pilish" constraint and just read for enjoyment. It touches on philosophy, politics, religion - and zombies. At times the constraint makes the wording difficult - even a little messy. This slows the reader down to think. If you rush through it you will miss the many subtle meanings and references (eg Icelandic band Sigur Rós). Of course I played the crosswords - clever in both clues and answers. Obligatory math reference: check out the handling of the Feynman point.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Neal Cruco
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I did not find the book interesting at all. As a novelty it's cool, but as a story it fails.
