Here is a list of some highly recommended novels that you can use for your reports in the class Mathematics in Fiction. These are not the only ones that you can use, but they have the advantage that I know where you can get a copy and that they are "mathematical enough". More can be found on the Mathematical Fiction Homepage.

• Advanced Calculus of Murder (1986) Erik Rosenthal (I own a copy of this mystery novel. A rather realistic view of life as a math professor mixed with an intriguing murder mystery)
• After Math (1997) Miriam Webster (I've got a copy of this hard to find novel...a cross between a satire, a murder mystery and a ghost story that all takes place in the math department at a large Texas university.)
• Beyond the Limit (2002) Joan Spicci (A novel of historical fiction portraying the life of a real female mathematician of the late 19th century.)
• The Bishop Murder Case (1929) S.S. van Dine (I own this early 20th century mystery novel. Most of the victims and suspects are mathematicians, and the detective gives a great speach about how mathematics drives men to homicidal insanity.)
• The Blind Geometer Kim Stanley Robinson (This is actually a SHORT novel, about half length. But, I think there is quite a lot to say about the mathematics in this science fiction story. I own a copy.)
• Cryptonomicon (1998) Neal Stephenson (I own a copy of this weird, cool, cult novel and the Charleston Public Library also seems to have it. Highly recommended, highly enjoyable, but not a short read)
• Diaspora (1998) Greg Egan (The Charleston Public Library and I both have this book which is cool but not an easy read by any means. The math in it is rather involved, as are the other science fiction aspects.)
• Distress (1995) Greg Egan (I own a copy of this novel and so does the public library. It takes place at a mathematical physics conference -- my cup of tea, of course -- where a brilliant mathematician is about to reveal her "theory of everything".)
• Factoring Humanity (1998) Robert J. Sawyer (Public Library has several copies. Lots of math mixed with higher dimensional travel, aliens, real psychology, fringe psychology, and fringe physics!))
• Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884) Edwin Abbott Abbott (A classic!. Both the college and public libraries have copies.)
• Flatterland: like Flatland, only more so (2001) Ian Stewart (I have a copy of this supposed sequel to Flatland that is really a thinly disguised non-fiction tour of interesting, recent discoveries in math.)
• Fractal Murders (2001) Mark Cohen (A detective novel in the style of the old, hardboiled private eye...but the "beautiful client" happens to be a math professor and the murders seem to have something to do with chaos theory.)
• Good Benito (1994) Alan P. Lightman (About a mathematical physicist. Beautifully written but without much of a plot. We see a bit of his boyhood. Some romance. And a strange situation where he has to deal with a quirky old brilliant guy.)
• An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000) Aimee Bender (Available at the CCPL. A school teacher who hides behind mathematics as a defense from reality)
• Leaning Towards Infinity Sue Woolfe (This is not a book I like very much, although it won many awards. It presents mathematics as a sexist old boys club. I strongly disagree with that representation, and fear that the book itself could have a negative impact on our attempts to ensure gender equality within mathematics. But, hey, read it for yourself and see what you think! Available at the CCPL.)
• The Mask of Zeus (1992) Desmond Cory (Murder mystery. Available at the CCPL.)
• Mefisto: A Novel (1986) John Banville ("Real literature" about a man obsessed with math and his dead twin. At CCPL.)
• The Mind-Body Problem Rebecca Goldstein (You briefly learned about Noam Himmel in Strange Attractors. Here is a whole novel about the guy. At CCPL.)
• Newton's Darkness (2004) Carl Djerassi and David Pinner (This is two plays together in one book. Both concern the dark side of Isaac Newton.)
• The Number Devil (Der Zahlenteufel) Hans Magnus Enzenberger (I own a copy of this beautifully illustrated and surprisingly advanced kid's book.)
• Nymphomation (2000) Jeff Noon (Definitely twisted book. This is what math would be like if it were at Woodstock in the 1960's. I own a copy.)
• Paradox (2000) John Meaney (I've got a copy of this hard to find science fiction book that has lots of nonsensical mathematics mixed into its well done tale of slavery and aristocracy along with space ships and karate.)
• The Parrot's Theorem Denis Guedj (Wow, this one is great and informative. Someone in the class must try it! I've got one copy and the public library has another.)
• Quicksilver (2003) Neal Stephenson (I own a copy of this long but entertaining novel which features both Newton and Leibniz as characters. It takess place in the same "universe" as his earlier "Cryptonomicon" and even features characters who are related to (or the same as!) those in that 20th century novel.)
• Ratner's Star Don DeLillo (Okay, I didn't really like this book, but the author is well respected in literary circles and there is certainly a lot of math. The public library has a copy.)
• The Sand-Reckoner Gillian Bradshaw (We'll be reading a few excerpts from this historical novel about Archimedes. If you like them, you can read the whole thing by borrowing my copy or getting it from me or from the public library.)
• Tigor (1991) Peter Stephan Jungk (This novel, translated from German, concerns a mathematician who "freaks out" and goes searching for Noah's ark. I've got a copy.)
• The Visiting Professor (1994) Robert Littell (More about America than it is about math, this book follows the darkly comic escapades of a Russian mathematician -- an expert on chaos -- as he gets accustomed to American culture while visiting a research institute in upstate New York. Both CCPL and I have copies.)
• White Light, or What is Cantor's Continuum Problem? (1980) Rudy Rucker (I have a copy of this very weird book which I can lend you. Rucker addresses serious mathematical questions of "infinity" using religious metaphor and psychedelic humor.)
• The Wild Numbers (2000) Philibert Schogt (Another "must do" book. I own one copy and the public library has another. A mathematician cracks under the pressure to publish or perish in this "realistic" novel.)
• A Certain Ambiguity (2007) Guarav Suri/Hartosh Singh Bal (Another "must do" book. A Hindu math student investigates the mystery of how his grandfather wound up imprisoned on charges of heresy.)
• Against the Day (2006) Thomas Pynchon (I'm not sure I really understood this book by an author famous for the complexity of his novels. If you think you can make sense out of it for me, I'd be very grateful!)
• Mathematicians in Love (2006) Rudy Rucker (This is another bizarre science fiction novel, but it is more mathematical than some of his others!)
• Measuring the World (2006) Daniel Kehlmann (This semi-biographical novel about the great mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss was a best seller in Germany. However, I think its portrayal of the man is slanderous. I have every reason to believe that he was not the self-interested, cold and anti-social character that this author chose to portray him as!)
• PopCo (2004) Scarlett Thomas (I loved this novel about a woman working at a toy company who gets caught up in the mystery of a hidden treasure.)
• The Three Body Problem (2004) Catherine Shaw (A traditional murder mystery written by a mathematician in which the social interactions of research mathematicians provides the motive for the murders.)
• The Five Hysterical Girls Theorem (2004) Rinne Groff (I think there is something really interesting to say about this humorous and entertaining play about a math conference at a beach resort in the early 20th century. However, I don't know what it is. I think the critics really failed to get this play at all. They seemed to think that the author didn't understand the math. I disagree: from what I can see the author knows what she's talking about mathematically. But, I'm still not exactly sure what she was trying to say about it.)