Numbers Don't Lie [Paperback]

Terry Bisson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2005

Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction as the short stories "The Edge of the Universe," "Get Me to the Church on Time," and "The Hole in the Hole," this inventive and quirky novel combines the stories, featuring the inspired adventures of Wilson Wu, a jack-of-all-trades who uses his eclectic background to solve a variety of wacky futuristic dilemmas. An Ivy League graduate, Wu is a rock musician, a Volvo mechanic, a trial lawyer, a camel driver, an aeronautics engineer, an entomological meteorologist, and, most importantly, a math wizard with a formula for every occasion. A godsend for his friends and the universe, Wu uses his eclectic skill set to prevent the imminent collapse of the universe, guarantee good weather for an Alabama wedding, and tow an abandoned lunar rover from the surface of the moon to a junkyard in Brooklyn. Irreverent and inventive, these adventures exemplify Bisson's smart, hilarious, and satirical style that has earned him Hugo and Nebula awards and comparisons to Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. To the honorable list of science-fictional nutty geniuses, among them Stanley G. Weinbaum's Prof. Haskel Van Manderpootz and J.U. Geisy's Dr. Xenophon Xerxes Zapt, add the name of Wilson Wu, the hero of Bisson's hilarious collection of three related stories filled with puns and inscrutable mathematical formulas. No piker, Wu manages to walk, in "one long step for mankind," from an auto repair garage in a nondescript part of Brooklyn directly to the moon in "The Hole in the Hole." He even brings back half of a dune buggy left behind by astronauts and casually explains the situation as "a periodic incongruent neotopological metaeuclidean adjacency." In the second tale, "The Edge of the Universe," Wu saves the expanding universe from shrinking. Finally, he patches "a hole in the fabric of space-time" in "Get Me to the Church on Time." Fans of the late Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will relish this irreverent but never smart-alecky spoof. Bisson has won Hugo, Nebula and other major SF awards. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Lawyer and Brooklyn patriot Irving has this six-foot-two friend, Wilson Wu, also an attorney (Harvard-trained, no less; well, maybe Yale)--not to mention pastry chef, rock guitarist, engineer, herbalist, camel driver, Volvo connoisseur (so's Irv), and, during the period spanned by the three stories corralled here under a title that's also his motto, entomological meteorologist. First and foremost a Princeton mathematician, Wu can explain--via equations, of course--the anomalies in space-time that Irving innocently encounters. Like the gateway to the moon in the Volvo junkyard Irving goes to for the parts that'll stifle his squealing brake pads. Like the segment of universe-edge that's going counterclockwise in Huntsville, where Irv is cramming for the Alabama bar while waiting for his sweetheart Candy's daddy to make good on a do-not-resuscitate order. Like the fact that everything in New York runs on time when Irv returns for his honeymoon with Candy. Bisson, an sf clown-prince who madly embroiders ludicrous premises with wordplay, nutty incongruities, goofy character humor, and outrageous irony, is in top form here. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 163 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications (September 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892391325
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391322
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,583,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Convoluted, splendidly-silly tall tales. 4.6 stars, September 16, 2006

By 

Peter D. Tillman (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Numbers Don't Lie (Paperback)

This is a collection of the three Wilson Wu stories (first published in Asimov's, 1994-98), gathered into a nice little fixup 'novel'. The first, "The Hole in the Hole" introduces Wu and his Brooklyn pal Irving, as they search for an all-Volvo junkyard -- which, the author notes, really exists (or did) in the real Hole in darkest Brooklyn. Presumably the real Frankie's lacks the periodic incongruent neotopological adjacency (aka the lunar tire-dump) that is the centerpiece of this convoluted and very entertaining tall tale.. Which you may well have already seen -- it was a Hugo nominee, and has been reprinted several times. The other two stories aren't quite up to HOLE -- but they're still pretty darned good. Recommended.

The author's website, terrybisson[dot]com, is well worth a visit, and has several free stories, if you're new to Bisson.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Renews your sense of wonder, August 6, 2006

By 

Mark A. Smith "jedi accountant" (De Pere, WI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Numbers Don't Lie (Paperback)

This was the type of book that drew me into science fiction in the first place. It ranks up there with Heinlein's juveniles. And I mean that as high praise. The only thing juvenile about that famous series of novels was that they avoided sex and extreme violence.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine book by Terry Bisson, April 30, 2009

By 

S. Stockell (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Numbers Don't Lie (Paperback)

Terry Bisson is a very entertaining author. I've enjoyed all of his books and stories, and look forward to more.