Mobius Dick

by Andrew Crumey

In Mobius Dick, physicist John Ringer, receives a mysterious text message that triggers an investigation into the development of new mobile phone technology in a research facility outside a remote Scottish village. Already the world is becoming a very different amnesia, telepathy, false memory, and inexplicable coincidences all seem to be occurring more frequently with humorous, brain teasing results. Could quantum experiments have caused the collapse of our universes space-time continuum? Could the multi-layered text we are reading come from another world altogether?

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Literature, Fantasy, Physics, Scotland, Speculative Fiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Andrew Crumey has a PhD in theoretical physics and is former literary editor of Scotland on Sunday. He won the £60,000 Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award - the UK's largest literary prize - in 2006. His novels combine history, science, philosophy and humour, and have been translated into fifteen languages. Music, in a Foreign Language won the Saltire First Book Award; Sputnik Caledonia was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; The Great Chain of Unbeing was shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Award. He has also been nominated for the Arthur C Clarke Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mobius Dick is a fantastic postmodern extravaganza on the theme of the alternative or, maybe, parallel reality.
The universe – metaphysics – physics – quantum mechanics – mathematics… The Möbius strip is a fine model of infinity…

‘The world; the spirit,’ Dr Richarz enthused, ‘our philosophers have shown beyond doubt that they are identical and commensurate; that they are inherent within one another and stand in a necessary relation of indiscernible identity…’
‘Yes, Herr Doktor,’ I said patiently. ‘I am quite familiar with Hegel and Fichte and Schopenhauer. But I do sometimes wonder if there really is any more wisdom in them than in the tales of elves and fairies my grandmother used to tell me on her knee.’

Macrocosm and microcosm… Genius and madness… Duality and relativity… Everything is relative and everything is connected with everything else… Schrödinger’s cat and Hoffmann’s Tomcat Murr are relatives…

Johannes Kreisler, a musician, is writing his auto-biography. But his pet cat Murr mixes up all the pages and writes his own life story on the reverse sheets. So the novel consists of two parallel narratives, Kreisler’s and Murr’s, intercutting randomly. It was one of Franz Kafka’s favourite novels; and Ringer could see why Schumann too was so impressed, given that the composer’s own divided self ultimately landed him in a lunatic asylum.

The universe, however, continues to exist independently of all our theories and hypotheses.

[Nikos Tsentemeidis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Βαρετό σε πολλά σημεία. Ο συγγραφέας κάνει κατάχρηση των πληροφοριών φυσικής και ιστορικών προσώπων από τους χώρους της λογοτεχνίας και των επιστημών. Επίσης το τέλος ήταν ιδιαίτερα προβληματικό. Υπήρχαν κάποιες λίγες στιγμές που θα μπορούσαν να προσδώσουν ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον στην ιστορία, αλλά ναυάγησαν γρήγορα.

[Tijana]

Kako je lepo kad date nekome drugu šansu iako vas iz prve nije oduševio pa se ispostavi da je to bila prava odluka :)
Mobius Dick je neverovatna, beskrajno zabavna glavolomka koja u urednu Mebijusovu traku spaja jednu alternativnu verziju istorije dvadesetog veka (Dik kao Filip K. Dik jelte), onda opus pisca koji je izokrenuti i parodični odraz Tomasa Mana (i mnogo vremena se posveti raznim alternativnim verzijama npr. Lote u Vajmaru u kojoj junakinja nije rana Geteova ljubav Lota nego pozna Geteova ljubav Betina fon Arnim muahaha), lajtmotivsko pojavljivanje Hofmanovog mačka Mura, i niz aluzija na uglavnom istorijski tačne anegdote o Ničeu i Melvilu koje se onda uvezuju u smisaonu celinu sa... Ervinom Šredingerom u poseti Čarobnom bregu!
plus: Šredingerova teorija u malo manje prežvakanoj varijanti nego obično (Krumi je ipak ozbiljan fizičar) i detaljnije povezivanje sa Hajzenbergom nevezano, Fizika i metafizika je odlična knjiga i ništa ne boli da se čita i na kraju uvođenje Pola Diraka koji u odnosu na ogledalnog Mana/Berensa predstavlja Adorna u Doktoru Faustusu i to je možda i najbolja fora u knjizi.
plus: dva-tri nepouzdana pripovedača koja se TAKOĐE uvezuju kao Mebijusova traka
plus: zapravo je sve ovo smešteno u priču o zloj, zloj korporaciji koja pravi tajno superoružje
plus: Krumi mnogo mrzi poststrukturalizam ali i kurseve kreativnog pisanja i želi da to podeli s nama u zasebnim scenama koje nisu baš relevantne za zaplet ali vrcaju od iskrene emocije.
To nas zapravo dovodi i do minuseva koji su, nažalost, isti kao u prethodnoj knjizi koju sam čitala:
prvi i najveći minus: likovi su zapravo dosta plošni, i to na nesreću naročito važi za junake zasnovane na istorijskim ličnostima. Npr. istorijska Betina je PRŽILA a u romanu je prilično bleda.
drugi minus: Krumi nekako ume da bude solidno nepravedan prema nekim od tih istorijskih ličnosti, jeste to pitanje ličnih sklonosti ali ipak. Pravda za Klaru Šuman!
i još jedan minus: scene seksa/erotike su neprijatne onako na nivou seksa u jugoslovenskim filmovima, tako jedan Živojin Pavlović vajb. OK, razumem da ima ko to voli, takva osoba slobodno neka ovo prebaci u pluseve.

[Mark Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

An interesting concept that was enjoyable to read at first, but after a couple of hundred pages, became massively, horrendously boring... So much so that I didn't actually bother to finish it; I grew that distanced from the plot and its characters that I simply stopped caring. There was just this ever-present ostentatious reek of philosophical masturbation floating through the pages, especially in the Schrödinger sections... Okay, perhaps I am simply not the kind of person who should try to read such a book, I mean, I don't have forty years of knowledge behind me, and I don't study theoretical physics...

I really think that a good book should swallow you up; that you should live and feel the story, see it through the characters. You should actually care about them, their problems, their struggles, but reading this, I felt that I should be taking notes. It's an exercise in intellectual bullshit.

[Ms6282 Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true science fiction book. It isn't set in space or some dystopian future, but the story centres around a scientific concept - quantum mechanics. That's a difficult topic to get your head around unless, like the author, you've got a PhD in physics. The theory of quantum mechanics is pretty weird, and the author bases his plot around some of it's contradictions, in particular the idea that there an infinite number of universes. I don't think you need to understand the theory to appreciate the book.

There are several strands to plot, some involving historical figures including Brahms and Schroedinger. At first the different sub-plots seem unrelated, but they are all linked by the central idea. The connection only becomes clear at the end of the novel and I think that the resolution was a little vague. Nevertheless well written and easy to read and I enjoyed reading it.

[Ian Mond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why am I only now finding out about Andrew Crumey? For months I’ve been hearing praise about his new novel, The Secret Knowledge, and like J Robert Lennon, another author whose only just popped up in my literary crosshairs, I feel like I’ve missed out on something special.

In rectifying that I went and purchased Crumey’s 2004 novel Mobius Dick.

There’s a quote on the front cover from Time Out (John O’Connell) that says:

"It would be nice to think that this magnificent piece of work stood a chance of winning the Booker. It’s certainly my novel of the year."

It didn’t get nominated for the Booker. But nine years a later, in a massive twist of no particular importance, a book about quantum mechanics, Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for The Time Being, did get a Booker nod. I’ve read both. If I had to collapse a wave function I’d say that the Ozeki is the slightly better book. They’re both very similar dealing with two separate, quantumly diverse narratives that entangle at the end – but in terms of character work – also known as the ability to cruelly manipulate tears from Ian Mond’s eyes – the Ozeki wins. I’ll discuss the Ozeki some other time, maybe even on a certain podcast.

Mobius Dick is the sort of book that will annoy some genre fans who will see it as someone from the outside (AKA literature) trying to get their hands dirty with a bit of genre. It’s the sort of criticism that notes the thinness of the plot, the amount of gratuitous sex, and then ends by saying that for those people serious about science fiction, there’s nothing new to be found here.

Crumey. of course, is fully aware of the genre antecedents. There’s a Man In The High Castle vibe to the book evidenced by Harry Dick, an amnesiac suffering Anomalous Memory Disorder (that is he remembers a past that never existed) and excerpts from Heinrich Behring’s Professor Faust. Proving to be the best parts of the novel, Behring’s novel at first seems like factual account of Schrodinger’s discovery of wave mechanics during his stay at Arosa in 1926. But we later find out [spoiler] that Behring’s book is a fiction, an alternative of what might have happened.

As he says in his ‘afterword’ "The world I describe in Professor Faust – with its altered past and imaginary future – is quite deliberately one that could not possibly exist. Who could believe such a thing as a female Prime Minister of Britain, or a movie actor elected President of the United States? It would be difficult to be more evidently ironic without lapsing into farce."

So yes it’s all been done before. There’s nothing new to see here. And yet Crumey’s take on parallel worlds and quantum mechanics overflows with the passion of someone who has a PHD in theoretical physics. This isn’t someone borrowing genre tropes for his literary novel about quantum mechanics, rather this is someone who’s having a great deal of fun with the what if’s posed by the many worlds view of physics.

And if you don’t entirely catch on to all the literary references – ranging from Melville (of course) to Jung to Schumann – or the fact that Professor Faust and Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain are very alike – then that’s OK The James Bondian storyline involving physicist John Ringer and his frightening discovery of what’s going at a hush, hush secret facility in remote Scotland keeps the pages turning.

But those sections, as exciting as they are, are the least interesting parts of the novel. It’s clear that for Crumey that the heart and soul of the book is his passion for smart people and brilliant ideas, intermingled with the subversive idea that there’s a thin quantum line between what is and what could have been.

I’ll certainly be reading more books by Andrew Crumey, and next on my list will be The Secret Knowledge.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Describing this book is difficult so what I want to do is just say READ IT and call it a day. But I see that this book gets a very polarizing response so I will elaborate. If you are a fan of Philip K. Dick this is the closest you are going to get to reading another Dick masterpiece after having read all his work. If you never have really understood the concept of quantum mechanics then this book will help you understand it better if you are more a literary and artistic type person than a scientific type person. If you are a fan of dryly humorous science fiction books, with philosophy and alternate history and realities then this is probably for you.

I came into this book without any more primer than what was on the book flap. I picked this book up from a used book store just based on the title and a brief description on the cover. However, I really didn't have a problem following it. Maybe some people will so I will try to break it down. This book has at least four planes of reality from what I can see and what comes next may constitute a spoiler if you are already sold on this book and just want to read it right now.

1. A physicist named John Ringer gets a mysterious text message and investigates an experimental machine being developed in a small Scottish town.

2. A man named Harry is suffering from some kind of memory disorder, or so he is told while in a hospital, but he starts to suspect that his doctor is lying. However, the disorder causes patients to make up false memories so he can't even trust his own mind.

3. The famous physicist Erwin Shrodinger is attempting to develop his wave theory in a highly fictionalized account.

4. A novelist, named Heinrich Behring, may be writing this whole thing down and what we are reading is a novel within a novel. Or Harry is writing it all down and this is his therapy. Or John Ringer is writing it all down and he is actually Harry, or Harry is him.

There might be other versions of reality in this novel that you can clearly delineate because after a while they all start to bleed into each other. I pick up weird books like this all the time because they appeal to me, but most of the time I find them to be pretentious. This one has a light touch and is often very funny. Once again, it reminds me a lot of Philip K. Dick but never feels like an homage to Dick. This is just another writer who is mining the same territory and doing equally as well.

[Psychophant · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this book had been classed as Science Fiction, it would have received quite poor criticism. Because it uses some tropes not very well, and then delivers a flat performance of wooden characters, unreal dialogues, weird views of some real characters, and a meta-narrative dealing with a Borgesian pair of narrators that are each of them a creation of the other, or the same individual.

The fact that there is a certain Physics basis to the tale, and the two linked narrators, give it some weight, and I suppose the novelty of the multiple universes may attract a non s-f reader. But that does not compensate the problems mentioned above, and what is worse, a predictable plot, a major sin when you can go literally anywhere with your multiversal story.

A particular peeve of me is how it goes out of its way to be didactic at times, while skipping along easily (those parts where the basis is dodgy) on others. More like a show-off than a real need for the story.

[Ləman Rəhimli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fəlsəfə, fizika, musiqi və ədəbiyyat əlaqələrinin nadir və çox yaxşı qurğusu ilə qarşılaşırıq bu kitabda. Bölmələrin bir-birinə keçiş tərzi, bu keçişin işlənməsi, bir çox kitaba, bəstəyə, yaşamış şəxsə olan referanslar, hamısı birlikdə harmanlanaraq bizə təqdim olunur. Oxumaq üçün uzun müddət gözləməli olmuşdum və buna dəydiyini düşünürəm. Belə süjetləri həmişə oxumaq imkanı olmur. "Puzzle" qurğuları, təsadüfləri sevir, biraz da beyninizin yanmağını istəyirsizsə mütləq oxuyun.

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

’Mobius Dick’ es una novela inclasificable, mezcla de parodia y erudición, donde la mecánica cuántica, la literatura y la historia se dan la mano. Schrödinger, Thomas Mann, E.T.A. Hoffmann, este libro es como un juego de espejos en el que se conjugan varias tramas, una historia con múltiples realidades, donde el lector debe decidir qué es ficción y qué realidad. Si bien las explicaciones y reflexiones que se exponen en el libro sobre física son abundantes, Crumey, físico teórico y matemático, las integra perfectamente en el texto. Ha de quedar claro que, pese a su temática, esta novela no encajaría dentro del género de ciencia ficción. Más bien Crumey utiliza ciertos elementos de éste para elaborar su juego de espejos literario, en el que la memoria y el miedo a la pérdida de la identidad son importantes. Lo mejor con esta novela es dejarse llevar y entrar en el juego que te propone el autor. Si bien al principio parecen varias historias independientes, a lo largo de la novela se van soltando pistas para que al final puedas atarlo todo y así sacar tus propias conclusiones.

Con el sentido habitual del escocés Andrew Crumey, ’Mobius Dick’ no deja de ser un juego intelectual con el que pasar el rato. Crumey tiene mejores novelas, véase la genial ‘Pfitz’ o ‘El principio de D’Alembert’. Interesante y poco más.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a crop of books that plays with literary ideas inspired by quantum mechanics. Usually this kind of thing is cringe-worthy; but in this case it's saved by the author not taking the parallels entirely seriously and executing a very playful narrative, with an absolutely wonderful closing paragraph that makes you want to read the entire book again in order to ascertain just what it is you have read...

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have great admiration for people trained in the sciences who also excel at artistic pursuits but, when the two come together, there is a tendency more toward cleverness than . . . “wisdom” seems to be appropriate here, whatever that is, but what I’m thinking involves the sorts of literary specialness that the best writers seek, even when they fall short. This novel is exceptionally clever, a work that gives precedence to structure and connections in ways that are more fresh and clever than, at least to me, particularly interesting. Not that I didn’t enjoy much of the novel’s pieces, but putting them together (or having them somewhat put together toward the end) didn’t engage me too much. This is another novel that would have profited from less dialogue. A 3.5.

[Anthea West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and original, but highly convoluted. The ideal reader would be knowledgeable about a) quantum mechanics b) nineteenth- and twentieth-century German history and culture. Since I'm no expert on either, don't take my word on its merits. But definitely not a waste of time.

[Klára · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dávám čtyři hvězdičky, protože je to velmi náročná kniha pro obyčejného čtenáře, který k fyzice zas tolik nepřirostl. Kniha se mi líbila, oceňuji pasáže s historickými postavami, protože miluji Brahmse i Schumanna. A jinak asi ta kniha dokázala, co měla. Ke konci jsem nevěděla, čí jsem. :D

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

What even was this book?

A bizarre marriage of psychoanalysis, classical music, and the interpretation of quantum mechanics, Mobius Dick nevertheless is compelling throughout.

Was there a plot?
Well... kind of. It's a collection of snippets that end up being blended together by the crux of the story (which I will not spoil - it's part of the fun). There isn't some massive reveal at the end - the realisation of what's going on will happen gradually and then it's all about how we get there.

In terms of characters ...
... Crumey appears to lend a sympathetic ear to horny men in middling marriages with unspoken, yet partner-approved, affairs. Again the reason so many of the characters fall into this description is because of the themes in the plot - but it's pretty odd to hear Schrödinger voyeuristically observing the staff in the kitchen whilst his dinner party discuss Neitzsche and Jung.
Speaking of which, at times it feels like names and theories are dropped to give some parts of the story more gravitas and distract from the lack of original content, which is why this is a 3-star rather than a 4-star for me.

Overall though this was a bonkers and fun read. Will be picking up more Crumey in the future!


Intersecting, overlapping, undulating cycloids.

[Brian Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from a 40 page dinner conversation that was intended to bore the main charcater boring me just as badly I was very engaged with this work. The ending was unexpected but made as much sense as I really expected a book on quantum mechanics to make sense. As the story jumps across characters and time periods connecting them is almost impossible before the author explains what the hell has been going on and it's the strength of the writing and charcaterization that kept me going forward. The references to actual historical characters and my own relative lack of knowledge beyond these people's existence made sure I was never really clear on which part of the alternate history was actually altered and the alternate present or memory games left me as confounded as they were intended too seeing as they were never fully explained outside of the general chaos being generated by the primary plot device. I'd have a hard time figuring out who to recommend this too, but no trouble at all recommending it to that person.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the cover, I assumed that this book was a light read, but the subjects it touches on: modern physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, multiverse theory, music, psychology, memory, history, multiple personalities, and the possible/impossible overlap/ replay/multiplicity of historical threads of history shifting backwards and forwards and jumping sideways and overboard, through characters and historical events and currents that are/were both real and imaginary...I think you get it by now- it's weird and delightful. Read closely (or lightly- it may not matter) and wait for the surprise ending to become the beginning and then the middle, and on and on in various loops through time and space and characters. All too complicated to explain, but endlessly, overlappingly, and intra-actively (maybe not a real word but I had to use it) entertaining. I loved it, even though I wasn't familiar with some of the material- physics, history, psychiatric theory, memory, music. As the British say, brilliant.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I am officially a fan. Okay, I also was extremely amused by the title. Apparently, I am into books that use the concept of the Mobius strip as a major plot point (such as Brian Lumley's Necroscope, which is one of my favorite books). One of the funny things about the Crumey book is that it also repeatedly referenced a book that I had to read in a college English class, The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. At the time that I read the Mann novel I hated every 700+ pages of it. I am wondering if I might like it now - you know, 20 years old vs. 40+ and all that. But I digress...

[Magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's rather strange, i would say if i was a crumey hero in this novel, that i picked this book randomly out of the selves of unread novels, exactly at the moment when i closed a small two-days research about synchronicity, Jung, Koestler and the debate about coincidences. I was quite surprised when i found myself at p.50 reading about the same things and it's even more amusing if you consider that those same things aer coincidences. Well, there i was.. A passing intellectual interest with nice connotations laughing at me, looking from another funnier world... Mr. Crumey, Thanks Again!

[Steve Gillway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luckily, I had read a book about quantum physics fairly recently and so I was up to speed reading this. I enjoyed it immensely until the finale. The switching of the narrator and story was done with great aplomb. All the stories within stories, back stories and relations between stories kept me rapt with attention. Tying up all the threads of the story meant the plot took over for the last stretch, but it was a great ride all the same.

[Μιχάλης Μανωλιός · Rating 3 out of 5]

Αδυνατώ να καταλάβω γιατί θεωρείται τόσο καλός ο Crumey. Μόλις καταλάβεις την κεντρική ιδέα του βιβλίου (κι αυτό γίνεται αρκετά νωρίς) το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο εκφυλίζεται σε μια συνεχή, σχεδόν προβλέψιμη, επανάληψη. Ενδιαφέρον; Όχι πραγματικά. Πιο πολύ τετριμμένο θα έλεγα.Καλογραμμένο; Ναι, αλλά όχι αρκετά για να μιλάμε για το νέο μεγάλο όνομα της Βρετανικής λογοτεχνίας.

Στα συν οι 76 υποσημειώσεις του μεταφραστή, που βοηθούν να εκτιμήσεις τις πάμπολλές αναφορές του συγγραφέα.

[Veronika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Co k téhle knize říct... Bavila mě neuvěřitelně! Sama vlastně nechápu proč a v tom je její kouzlo. Když se mě někdo ptal, o čem to je, co to vlastně čtu, nebyla jsem schopná to vysvětlit a adekvátně odpovědět. Mám pocit, že tohle se prostě nedá shrnout. Celé je to tak zamotané a nakonec to samozřejmě všechno klapne...

[Arax Miltiadous · Rating 3 out of 5]

υπαρχει ενα σημειο στον χωροχρόνο το οποιο οφείλεις να βρεις και να κανεις ερωτα.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Ringer primi mesajul în biroul lui de la universitate. Auzi semnalul, îşi scoase din buzunar mobilul, unul din seria Q, şi citi mesajul încifrat. Sună-mă: H. Nimic mai mult. Niciun indiciu privind identitatea lui H sau cum să ia legătura cu el. Când tastă „răspuns”, primi doar „utilizator de negăsit”. Imediat se gândi la Helen.

Îşi aminti că citise undeva, în instrucţiuni, despre o aplicaţie, „depistarea apelantului”, dar, întrucât până şi schimbarea tonului de sonerie al acestui aparat de ultimă generaţie era peste puterile lui, puţine şanse să se folosească de ea. Strângând telefonul subţire în mână, apăsând cu stângăcie tastele minuscule, menite unor degete de adolescent, trecu prin mai multe meniuri – în maniera aleatorie, empirică, impusă de tehnologia modernă – şi, după câteva reclame şi o linie de shopping, se trezi în faţa unor liste cu activităţile campusului. Ora 13:00 – Conferinţă (literatură modernă): Cicloide feroce.

Voia să ştie cine e H, nu care era programul facultăţii de litere. Încercă să se întoarcă pe acelaşi drum, prin aceleaşi meniuri, regretând că el, profesor de fizică teoretică, trecut de patruzeci de ani, nu aparţinea „ultimei generaţii”, care nu numai că manipula cu dexteritate aceste maşinării, ci o făcea şi în timp ce mesteca gumă şi vorbea neîntrebată în timpul tutorialelor. Apelantul, gândi el, nu putea fi Helen. De ani întregi n-o mai văzuse şi nici nu mai auzise de ea. Dar poate că sensul mesajului era altul: „Sună-mă în legătură cu H”. O veste importantă. Poate chiar ocazia de a o reîntâlni.

Ori, mai degrabă, un mesaj rătăcit, un număr greşit. O bucăţică neînsemnată din existenţa altei persoane, ajunsă din neatenţie în existenţa lui, silindu-l să-i dea de capăt. Căutăm mereu şabloane. Evoluţia ne-a adus aici.

Exact precum titlul conferinţei peste care dăduse: Cicloide feroce. Ringer îl găsi din nou pe telefon, părea că şi acesta i se adresa tot lui. Cicloida este o curbă geometrică; un subiect departe de a se preta unei conferinţe despre literatură. Poate că telefonul lui Ringer (ca şi creierul lui) avea felul lui de a filtra informaţiile relevante; ştia că o cicloidă este un exemplu clasic de frumuseţe matematică: locul în care se întâlnesc ştiinţa şi arta. Poate că-i şi pomenise lui Helen despre asta.

Se hotărî să meargă la conferinţă. Văzând că se apropie ora unu, Ringer părăsi departamentul de fizică, înarmat cu cutia în care îşi ţinea prânzul, şi se aventură într-o clădire a universităţii pe care nu o mai explorase până atunci; una de pe ai cărei pereţi lipseau fotografiile cu Hubble şi anunţurile privind o conferinţă sau alta, atât de familiare în specialitatea lui, dar care te intimida, cel puţin la nivel intelectual, deoarece coridoarele înguste te duceau cu gândul la o secţie de chirurgie prost concepută, ca un labirint fără scăpare. În cele din urmă găsi sala de seminar în care avea loc conferinţa, se aşeză – înconjurat de masteranzi şi membri ai departamentului de literatură care, probabil ca şi el, nu găsiseră un mod mai agreabil de a-şi petrece pauza de masă – şi aşteptă, plin de speranţe, să înceapă spectacolul.

[Jamandelb · Rating 1 out of 5]

—- The text arrived on John Ringer’s phone as he worked at his desk in the university. He heard a beep, brought his Q phone from his pocket and read the cryptic message. Call me: H. Nothing more. No indication of who H was, or how he was supposed to get in touch. Only a ‘user not found’ when he hit ‘reply’. Immediately he thought of Helen. —-

A promising beginning but with the first 40 or 50 pages I’m feeling nothing for it. Could have been the basic prose but clever intrigue of Agatha. No. Descriptions are so tired as to leave you with no sense of character at all.

—-
‘How do you feel?”
It was a white-coated woman with jet-black hair who asked him this, standing beside the hospital bed with a clipboard in her hand.
—-

The dialogue strives to be clever with theoretical physics and literature ... ooooh your characters must be so smart because they can monologue. Reminded me a bit of Rosie Project, where the narrator’s lack of emotion and interpersonal skills is meant to be reflected in the prose, but here I can’t be sure that’s what he’s going for so it just feels like bad writing. It’s the 19c novel’s directness in its first person statements, but without any 19c charm.

—-Their meal had ended; she had an appointment elsewhere. They exchanged phone numbers, and as soon as he watched her walk away with her book under her arm, Ringer decided to go to the library in search of a link between science and literature stronger than the respective role of TB clinics in the careers of Mann and Schrödinger. It would be an excuse for phoning her. —-

I so rarely put a book down before at least skimming to see what happens but, really...

— “Not at all, sir,” the caller insisted, his voice evoking some wild and windswept place that McDonald’s and Starbucks had yet to reach. —

That kind of move only works if the rest of your prose is gorgeous. I don’t care how clever you think your understanding of theoretical physics is, you can only mention McDonalds and Starbucks in the same sentence ironically.

[morrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, let me see. Ok. I love this book in a sense it left me feeling something. I enjoyed the themes (As someone who loves physics which I plan on studying it in the future, is interested in history, philosophy and likes reading science-fiction) and I liked the characters. I cared about them and I'm not sure whether I am satisfied with their endings or not. It seems that my review is already all over the place. Well, so is the book. It's not a bad thing - not necessarily. I actually found this aspect of the book particularly interesting and enjoyable. However, back to my review. I can't give this book a five-star rating, at least not now, but I might in the future. Or I'll go lower, we'll see. I think Mobius Dick has a good rereadable value. I like the way science and fiction are combined together, I like the world building - we don't know much about this dys-/u-topian society, it's not the main focus of the story but it is somehow there. I like it - I feel there are soooo many dystopian novels out there and they all seem the same in the end, but this is different because it's just a story set in an alternative future (or history). I recommend it although I get why some people don't. I will definitely look into Crumey's work in the future.

[Luca Dell'Oca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro spettacolare, al netto di un titolo italiano assolutamente orrendo: chi si è inventato "L'amore perduto e la teoria dei quanti" per tradurre "Mobius Dick" andrebbe fucilato.
Ho letto recensioni molto polarizzate su questo libro, io sono tra quelli a cui è piaciuto da matti ma capisco chi non l'ha apprezzato: richiede tanta attenzione, bisogna concentrarsi e ricordarsi quello che si legge, perchè le tre storie parallele si dipanano apparentemente scollegate, partono, si fermano, vengono riprese, con un crescendo di collegamenti tra di loro fino al finale (niente spoiler); il tutto giocando con la teoria quantistica per cui non solo gli elementi atomici, ma le persone stesse possono essere in diversi posti e in diverse epoche. Il tutto senza essere un libro che richiede conoscenze fisiche particolari.
Alla fine, può essere visto come un libro di fantascienza, nello stile di Philip Dick, dove la scena non è una nave spaziale o una galassia lontana ma la nostra amata terra nel mezzo di una serie di vite normali. Il fantastico è quello che avviene, non la scenografia.

[Charles Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put this on my "to-read" list so long ago I forgot what I was getting into. And I'm glad I forgot, because it made the experience so much more surprising. I will say that there were times when the narrative dragged - Schrodinger's dinner with the Schwarzkopfs and Dr. Minze was...a chore - but the ending made up for it all. It didn't hurt that the book is pretty short, so I could knock it out in just a couple of days, and even the slow parts were done fairly quickly. Did Blake Crouch do this better in "Dark Matter"? A bit, but this wasn't meant to be a thriller, so I try not to compare them too directly.

Lots of fun for science nerds, and anyone who's been drawn in to the whole multiverse of it all.

[Akemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t say that I understood all of the physics here, but I really enjoyed reading this book. The plot was intriguing and engaging from start to finish and I learned a bit about quantum theory and history along the way. I thought Crumey blended a lot of incredible concepts and compelling characters into a single story in an original way and with an element of mystery that kept me wanting to read on to find out where everything converged. I am a fan of alternate reality stories in general and I really appreciated how this one featured an authentic scientist and included some scientific explanation for everything that occurred.

[Cem Mustafa Demir]

Eski kafa bir fizikçi olan John Ringer'ın k-fonuna (cep telefonu) bir mesaj gelir. İlginç bir mesajdır bu. Ve kahramanımızı eski defterleri karıştırmaya itecek kadar da ucu açık ve nettir. Daha sonra hayatı tamamen tesadüflerin okyanusundaki bir kayığa dönüşür.


Kitap okuyucuya edebiyat, sanat tarihi ve bilimi basit bir dille harmanlayıp bir yapbozla uğraştığınız hissiyatı veriyor. Olay örgüsü bir kelebek etkisi yaratıyor. Bilim severlerin kevgire çevireceği bir kitap.