White Light

by Rudy Rucker, John Shirley (Introduction)

Felix Rayman spends the day teaching indifferent students, pondering his theories on infinity, and daydreaming. When his dreams finally separate him from his physical body, Felix plunges headfirst into a multidimensional universe beyond the limits of space and time — the place of White Light.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Cyberpunk, Mathematics, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Humor

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk genre. He is best known for his Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which won Philip K. Dick awards. Presently, Rudy Rucker edits the science fiction webzine Flurb.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good early Rucker: sets, drugs, rock & roll!
Felix Raynor is a new assistant math professor at SUCAS Bernco, a cow college in upstate New York -- but wait, Rudy Rucker was an asst prof at SUCAS (really!) Geneseo in upstate NY, 1972-78... Raynor is struggling to adapt to rural academe while (occasionally) working on Georg Cantor's Continuum Problem -- as was Rucker in RL: he started writing WL when he got bogged down with Cantor. Raynor's & Rucker's lives diverge ( I presume) when Raynor discovers astral projection and checks into Hilbert's Hotel on the flipside of Cimon, after getting a personal command from Jesus Christ to climb Mt. On...

As Rucker notes in his afterword, "White Light" has "nice visualizations of infinity, fine evocations of the time when it was written, heartfelt attempts to break thru to ultimate truth, good surreal
imagery, and lots of laughs." It's been on my "to read" list for years, and I'm pleased to see it back in print. If it still is, here in 2021? I read & reviewed it in 1998.

My full 1998 review:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

[Mirco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps I should say why I have read this book in the first place: Rudy Rucker is a mathematician, a set theorist to be precise, and this book, his opera prima, was written around a central theme: infinity. To write fiction trying to convey Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers is no minor feat, and that alone is worth 5 stars.

The plot is, in my opinion, a bit too dream-like, sometimes is not too sharp: a Lewis Carroll in C flat.But, tthat said, there are some serious fireworks here and there, for instance the speed-up to be able to count aleph null steps: a real feast for the brain.

I will try to write my own novel as a reply to Rudy's celebration of Cantor. Where he depicts the White Light of the Absolute, I will strive to paint the Gray Light which blurs the boundaries of Finite and Infinite.

[Ben Loory · Rating 3 out of 5]

a really fun book, less science fiction than a kind of mathemagical fantasia on the concept of infinity, probably closer to Alice in Wonderland than anything else. extremely wild and free-wheeling, though somewhat detached; doesn't carry a lot of (or any, really) emotional weight, but is definitely mind-expanding and a hell of a ride.

(my favorite part is when franx the beetle refers to gravity as "the seriousness.")

[Susan Budd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It just so happens that I was listening to Exile on Main Street when I started reading White Light. How cool is that? My favorite Stones song is on that album. “I Just Want to See His Face.” I could listen to it on a loop for hours. Pack a bowl. Play some tunes. Read about a mathematician’s Dantean journey through the astral realm. I never thought math could be so much fun.

[Maria Morrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A psychedelic trip into heaven and hell via the Cimon. Felix is a mathematics professor trying to grasp eternity, and when he takes up an interest in astral travel trouble insues. After leaving his body unattended Felix finds himself set on a mission by Jesus to protect and guide a single soul to the Absolute One which is God. Thus begins his trip through the Spirit Realms in a quest to find the center of Infinity.

Though at times the mathematics leaves the reader feeling more than a bit inadequate, White Light tried hard to help the mind grasp the concept of a world without end all held within the human potential.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the earliest of the Rucker bks I've read & probably my favorite. The simple premise of a math professor who has out-of-body experiences when he naps is expanded to a wild ride that's part hallucinogenic daydream, part semi-serious attempt to address notions of how to demonstrate that there aren't one-to-one mappings of specific infinities. The result was completely engrossing & entertaining for me & is proof 'positive' that Rucker's one heckuva imaginative guy. Thank the holy ceiling light for nerd culture.

[Michael Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

It definitely helps to be a math graduate student, as I was, when you read this book. It had some great insights into the difference between different orders of infinity. And a nice in-context descriptions of "Hilbert's hotel".

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Rucker's Software series. I enjoyed reading this book as well. I guess it is a mathematician's fantasy of infinity and the afterlife. While I was very confused at times, I had a smile on my face most of the time. If you want to read something different, this might be it.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

White Light is one of those whoa books. You've never read anything like it, you have no idea where it's going, and when you get there you feel like a new person.

[Cesar Felipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites of all time. If Georg Cantor had been the mathematician who wrote Alice in Wonderland, for adults.

On LSD.

[Fred Hann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only fiction I've ever read that refers to the ultrapower construction in a knowledgeable manner. The best math fiction I've ever read.

[David Steele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really sure how to score this one. Effectively it’s Rick and Morty without the laughs, but at least it kept me coming back for more.
Kind of want to give it five stars and pretend I found something truly profound in it.. but, nah.
I did spot a real meta quality to the infinity angle with this book, though. It felt as if, even though I’d read hundreds of pages, the end didn’t seem to get any closer. No matter how many chapters I got through, there were still alef-one pages left.
Granted, there are some interesting mathematical concepts in the story. For example, the infinite hotel rooms sketch was quite fun. But passages like this just annoyed me:

A jetliner came floating above the city, circled and headed down for a landing. It was following the red light. The space between the buildings was too narrow, but the plane kept on. One of the wings hit, scraped, broke off. Flames and smoke, and the wreckage went tumbling down towards the light, falling in frozen time. The shapes began changing, rearticulating. The falling wreckage became a spilled bag of groceries. The jetliner a carton of eggs. The red light moved up towards me, then flew off. The eggs broke and a flock of roast turkeys flew out, headless and beating their golden safety-pin wings. They followed the red light off to the side. The dark city lay waiting for a replay.

I do realise that Rucker was going for an Alice-in-Numberland kind of thing, but pages of meaningless garbage take their toll after a while. The whole thing reminded me very much of The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy , in fact, Rucker even makes direct reference to Stanislaw Lem in the story.
I imagine this book was intended to appeal to science / mathematics scholars, with in-jokes and not so subtle nerd-winks. But I can’t get my head around why a book aimed at the science market should be so reliant on cod metaphysics and Poundland new-age concepts involving astral projection, ghosts, Jesus and the devil. Let’s not even talk about how badly his treatment of female characters holds up in the 21st century.
It kind of redeemed itself in the last quarter. Mostly. But even then, the narrator was only able to make his point by getting a ghost to light some spook-weed during a lecture to get his class stoned enough to grasp his point. Maybe I just needed weed.
Eventually it stopped.

[Betawolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

_White Light_ reads like nothing so much as an LSD trip report written by a mathematician working on set theory and the mathematics of infinity. Given that Rucker was indeed a mathematician who would've been in his 20s in the '70s, and given that he wrote a nonfiction book called _Infinity and the Mind_ at around the same time as he wrote _White Light_, it all starts to seem suspiciously like this might actually be the case.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting read. Rucker deals with a large portion of the problems with infinity, bouncing ideas off various notable mathematicians of history as well as several zany characters from species whose dimensions cannot easily be comprehended. As a sort of parable/thought experiment approach to the mathematics, it's a nice balance of engaging and edifying. I'm not so sure what to make of the ending, though. When Rucker comes back down to earth, so to speak, he learns that he can use his astral form to manipulate certain particles, leading to a breakthrough in physical science. I don't think that actually happened, so what we're meant to take from it I'm not really sure -- it seems oddly extended for a bookend to the surreal mindscape, but it serves no obvious purpose.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book about 20 years ago after finding it in a charity shop. Some of the ideas and imagery have stuck in my mind and I was excited to return to it. I really wanted to love it as much as I remembered but it didn't live up to my memories. The first few chapters are tricky to get into but when Felix reaches cimon it gets better. The fantasy elements are good and there are some images and ideas that are so vivid and well written. Unfortunately, it tails of towards the end and gets a bit confused again.

[Hunter Lukas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given I know diddly squat about mathematics, I actually enjoyed White Light as a fun little story to laugh at. With serious undertones of spirituality, the crazy shenanigans Felix Rayman encounters in Cimön was a breath of fresh air for me after reading pretty deep novels lately. I loved how completely bonkers things could get, not making any sense at times. I think some of the spiritual concepts within the book are relatable to me and I felt validated in my own experiences at times when Felix was in Cimön. And even with that, I still just really liked the silliness that came from it all.

[Corrin Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never actually read any of Rudy's books other than parts of his autobiography. I don't think I am smart enough, however, I am eternally grateful for him for giving me an undeserved "Pass" grade in Calculus when I took it from him at SUNY Geneseo in the Spring of 1977.
I desperately switched to Pass/Fail after I realized that I didn't understand anything he was saying and my mind was distracted by the hot blond in the front row. So I guess, in a a way, I was doing some astral travel in his classroom!

[ThymeOperator · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers: some good ideas but zero emotional substance, such that all characters were just names on a page, with no history or depth. It was a surreal romp that was fun in some places and tedious in others. Far from enjoying the ride, I was relieved when it stopped. It didn't conclude in any real way; it simply stopped happening. I also quickly grew weary of his portrayal and treatment of anyone female. I think I would have preferred his non-fiction book on the same subject. I don't feel this worked.

Another one for the charity shop.

[Turtleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wild ride to the land of infinity by the gonzo mathematician/science fiction writer Rudy Rucker. White Light is bit like Alice in Wonderland in its premise of the narrator ending up in a wonderland kind of place, this time built around various mathematical ideas concerning infinity. There are some bizarre and wonderful scenes in this book, like how to get a room in a hotel with an infinite number of rooms, but all are occupied by guests. On the other hand, the story also just bounces from one strange thing to another, with little sense of progress. A fun read, but not Rucker's best novel.

[Dave Osmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the weirdest books I've ever read. The science behind it is centered around trying to comprehend infinity and it stretched my brain to the limit a couple of times. the first 3/4 of the book reads a lot like a well described acid trip, but then he ropes you back into reality for a VERY satisfying conclusion. I knew when Donald Duck was getting his heart ripped out as a sacrificial offering (a' la Temple of Doom) that this was going to be a memorable read.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an absurd, psychedelic story about astral projection and the afterlife used to introduce and play with the concept of transfinite numbers. It's a pretty fun trip with a lot of silly fun and adventure, if unnecessarily lascivious and arguably a tiny bit rapey at one point.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. I would have given it a stronger rating but it often got stuck on its own premise and language. Which I understand is the background of the writer being a mathematician.

Overall and interesting idea though and enjoyed the ending which I had concerns about midway through.

[Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Many years ago (as a student of mathematics) I was told I would love this book. Many years later I do not. It isn't easy to mix theoretical math and fiction!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

:)

[Fiorella Operto]

I met and interviewed Rudy Rucker. I remember he was struck, in Naples, by a painting by Breughel, The Misanthropic...

[Jessica Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange

[Bromhidrosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three words - bat, shit, crazy. Rudy Rucker dropped more LSD writing this than anyone should ever.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unusual combination of pure mathematics and psychedelia - interesting, but probably not a book I'll return to soon, partly because the maths is familiar to me already.

[Yuu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ccz

[Slakangler · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Rucker book. I look forward to more.

[Fabio Bertone]

So. Weird.