For a combination of science and literature that doesn't involve aliens (at least not many), open up "Schr?dinger's Ball," Adam Felber's first novel. This book is quirky and quick, following bizarre coincidences to its serendipitous end. It features a protagonist who is dead, though alive enough to bewitch audiences with his inspired guitar playing and consumption of absurd amounts of ice cream.
Dr. Erwin Schr?dinger was an Austrian physicist whose cat-thought experiment, which showed the error of the theory of quantum uncertainty, is central to the lives of these various and unexpectedly connected characters.
A reader does not need any understanding of quantum physics; in fact, the book isn't really about physics. The author makes it quite clear that his explanation of the uncertainty principle is accurate only in that the author's explanation does not clearly present Schr?dinger's theory. Rather, the book is an illumination of the dual elements present in human perception and the haphazard crossovers and coincidences of existence.
The novel is set in Boston, though there are a few scenes set in the recently independent state of Montana. For a cast of characters, there is Johnny, who is dead; Deb, mistress of the half-hour orgasm; Earl, the President of Montana in varying states of disposal and interest; an unidentified first-person plural narrator; and the late Dr. Schr?dinger. This list does not include Lester the rat, whose presence is instrumental as a catalyst for greater events, nor the retired lady of the night who flashes unsuspecting Ivy League scientists and is writing a revised history of the world (this is where the aliens come in). The various plots and subplots involve interconnections, fate, seizing the moment, irony, heroism, and the sale of visible single molecules.
It all sounds very complicated, but Felber writes humorously. The odd plots and prominent presence of scientific thought congeal quite nicely into an easy read. Felber is irreverent in his treatment of many things, including grandmothers, wickerwork, writers, and Schr?dinger himself.
Felber plays with the structure of the novel just as he does with Schr?dinger's theories. At one point, a character picks up "Schr?dinger's Ball" off the shelf and starts reading about himself, which results in a book malfunction that causes the scene to freeze, in effect restarting the book. Felber writes in a string of vignettes, each of which has a very different tone. Some take the form of a diary entry and some resemble a renaissance play script. The frequent shifts encourage readers to turn the page if only to return to whichever plot they find most interesting.
Much of the book feels fluffy because of the tone, but a lot of what the author attempts is successful. He is flippant and passionate, and the lively pace of the book carries it successfully to its end.