Collected Essays

by Rudy Rucker

Overview

“Collected Essays” includes the nonfiction pieces from Rucker’s two earlier collections, “Transreal!” (1991) and “Seek!” (1999). And many newer essays have been added as well. This comprehensive collection weighs in at 225,000 words, twice the length of an ordinary book. The essays fall into seven parts: (1) “The Art of Writing.” Manifestos and talks about writing science-fiction. (2) “Silicon Valley.” Cool scenes Rucker witnessed as he rode the Silicon Valley computer wave for over twenty years, starting in 1986. (3) “Weird Screens.” Graphical programs that have obsessed Rucker—cellular automata, artificial life, fractals, space curves, and virtual reality. (4) “Futurology.” Playful raps and speculations about the coming times. (5) “The Philosophy of Computation.” Where does it end? Immortality, artificial intelligence, and the birth of a universal mind? (6) “Personal Stories.” Stories Rucker tells to friends. (7) “Mentors.” Appreciations of the great minds and wild freaks who led Rucker along his path.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014512879
Publisher:	Transreal Press
Publication date:	04/13/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Born in 1946 in Kentucky, Rudy Rucker is a writer, a mathematician, and a former computer science professor.  He received Philip K. Dick awards for his cyberpunk novels “Software” and “Wetware,” now available in the “Ware Tetralogy.” He also writes science-fiction in a realistic style that he characterizes as transreal. He recently published “Jim and the Flims, a novel about a Santa Cruz surfer who journeys to the afterworld and back. In addition, Rucker has published a number of nonfiction works of popular science, covering topics such as the fourth dimension, infinity, and the meaning of computation. He took up painting in 2000, and has had shows of his pop-surreal works San Francisco. His autobiography, “Nested Scrolls,” appeared in 2012 from Tor Books. And now Rucker has taken up epublishing via Transreal Books. His first two volumes are “Complete Stories” and “Collected Essays.” For ongoing updates, see his blog at