Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension by Rudy Rucker
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Book Reviews of Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension
Book Review: Ruder Rucker is The Ace of Hyperspace
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a Rucker fan since 1990, when I stumbled across "Software," a hilarious psychedelic thriller that climaxes with a brutal death match between a drug-fueled, love-addled young anti-hero and a carnivorous meat-bot that drives an ice-cream truck and eats human brains to extract their organically-stored memories. Oops, I digressed before I began -- wonderful as "Software" is, "Spaceland" is an equally fabulous place to start in on Rucker's ouvre. This smooth cocktail of geek ambition, interdimensional travel, and wireless technology will make you smarter in several directions at once. In proper Faustian fashion, Rucker's hero starts out by trying to impress his woman with a magical display, a three-dimensional television, that creates a connections between this world and the fourth dimension, whose denizens ply his greed with a technology he doesn't quite understand, but that may be the ultimate killer app -- emphasis on "killer." Rucker thickens the plot with a suitcase whose valuable contents have a nasty habit of disappearing, Vegas hit-men in search of the missing contents, an IPO funded by a brilliant but humorless Jobs-like character, a woman worth saving the universe for, and a villain who's hard to hard, but easy to detest. It all works out for the best, because in Rucker's zany universe, good always triumphs in the end, but the contest is very, very close.Book Review: Provides an intuitive sense of the fourth dimension
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading Seek! Selected Nonfiction, a collection of non-fiction essays, I wrote to Rucker to say how much I enjoyed it, as well as his other non-fiction books (on infinity and the fourth dimension). I also mentioned that not being a science fiction fan, I had not read his works in that area.
He wrote a nice note in reply, suggesting that I read "Spaceland," which I have just finished. I wasn't particularly interested in the plot (which does a fine job of taking Silicon Valley to task), but thought that his description of the fourth spatial dimension (as opposed to time) was excellent. Using both diagrams and narrative, and drawing on Abbott's "Flatland," he does an fine job of providing the reader with a sense of what it would be like to look at our world from the fourth dimension. Along the way, he provides similar views of one and two-dimensional worlds.
All in all, a fascinating and entertaining book.
Book Review: Not quite top-drawer Rucker, but clever and fun. 4.6 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a clever takeoff on Flatland, starring Joe Cube, done up in the inimitable Rucker style. Joe, an employee of a Silican Valley startup, gets a visit from Momo, a pushy broad from 4D Klupdom, with a business proposition that he absolutely, positively can't refuse. Momo gives Joe an enhancement, a third eye that can see in the fourth dimension -- and a whole stack of hyperspace cellphone antennas. Can you guess that Momo doesn't have Spaceland's best interests at heart?
Not quite top-drawer Rucker, but clever and fun. Recommended.
Book's HP: http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/rucker/spaceland.htm
CAUTION: heavy SPOILERS
Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman
Book Review: What a Wild Ride!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book and loved every minute of it. Rudy Rucker combines intelligence, humor, and perfect storytelling into one of the best modern sci-fi comedies I've read. Not to mention, this book takes an abstract theoretical concept like 4-D life, and makes it seem completely real.
I wish there were more books like this. I'd recommend it to anyone...it's one of my favorites. And if you're looking for another good book to read after Spaceland, check out National Darkroast Day.
Book Review: Ever Wondered about the Fourth (Spacial) Dimension?
Summary: 4 Stars
If you ever wondered about the 4th (spacial) dimension, but didn't want to get too technical, this book by Rudy Rucker might be the one for you. In some ways, it picks up and/or expands on the much earlier book FLATLAND by another author (Abbott), which you might want to read first if the subject interests you (and it is not too technical either). Both books employ fictional stories to illustrate what a world with 4 spacial dimensions would be like.
In any case, SPACELAND is set in Silicon Valley during the dot com boom - remember that? The main character is Joe Cube (great name huh?) an MBA in a high tech company pre-IPO. Other important characters are Jena Cube (nee Bonk) Joe's wife, Spazz (reminded me in some ways of Spike on the BBC series Clatterford, except Spike is way more trustworthy) who works for Joe, Tulip who is Spazz's (sometime) girlfriend and Momo a lady from the fourth dimension. In the background at least, the book pokes fun at the craziness that went on in Silicon Valley at the time portrayed.
The main plot line involves Momo showing up and offering some great technology from her dimension that will revolutionize cell phones here. Suffice it to say that one should "beware of Trojans (in this case in the guise of Kluppers from the 4th dimension) bearing gifts". That is, the stuff seems great, but then we find out that there is a "little" problem that goes along with it.
Important to the story line is that our world of 3 spacial dimensions separates two 4th dimensional worlds that do not seem to be on the best of terms. The Kluppers are from one side and seem to be humanoid in at least a 4 dimensional sense, and the Dronners are from the other - there are several different kinds of strange creatures depicted from the Dronner side including a God like being. Yes, Joe has a religious experience near the end of the book, but it is well done. The author spends a lot of time helping readers "visualize" things that Joe sees in the 4th dimension (and elsewhere) and does a pretty good job with it - there are helpful diagrams as well. By the way, Momo gets a special eye to grow on Joe to help him see in the 4th dimension.
The story moves quickly and there is a lot of action. The world is saved (barely) at the end, and Joe makes a lot of money (less than if Momo's technology would have been "feasible" though). Joe also gets his wife back - why he wanted her back is beyond me.
The book can be a lot of fun if hyperdimensions and all that appeal to you - they do to me. As I mentioned, Abbott's FLATLAND might be a good "prequel" for readers of SPACELAND; I read it, and it is very good. SPACELAND's author also wrote some books more directly about the 4th dimension as well that I hear are good - I even have one on my shelf to read soon (THE FOURTH DIMENSION).
If the 4th dimension appeals, give SPACELAND a try.