Library classification of mathematical fiction

[nomadreid]

Imagine that you are a librarian or a book-seller, and you come across a book which is a cross between mathematical fiction and mathematics popularization: that is, it is heavier on the mathematics explanations than a work of fiction has a right to be, yet it is heavier on plot, much of which has no direct connection to mathematics, than most popularizations. Where does one classify/put the book? Mathematics? Fiction? Education? (You can only choose one classification.)

 

[anuttarasammyak]

Well, literally mathematical fiction is fiction any way and fictitious mathematics is mathematics. But I prefer contra.

 

[mcastillo356]

Phillip K. Dick. He would have been a good mathematician.
Jurassic Park is maths, rather than dinosaurs
Principia Mathematica is philosophy...mathematical philosophy

 

[robphy]

You may wish to compare to similar works.

"Mr Tompkins in Paperback"
https://archive.org/details/mrtompkinsinpape0000gamo/page/n9/mode/2up has a listing of 530.1
( https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/oclc/webdewey/help/500.pdf )

"Flatland"
https://archive.org/details/flatlandromanceo00abbo/page/n3/mode/2up has a listing of QA699.A13 530.1
( https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.e...=lccn&index=54678&key=QA 00000614.92 .G55&c=c )

 

[nomadreid]

Thanks to all for their input. robphy's answer is a good point to start with: (the classifications given are two different classification schemes: DDC, or Dewey Decimal Classification for the first one, and LCC, or Library of Congress Classification and also the DDC for the second one. "Mr. Tomkins in Paperback" is classified in DCC as 530.1, which is Physics (530) and subdivision (.1) ' Theories and mathematical physics". Flatland, on the other hand, is classified in LCC as QA699.A13 which is "Mathematics: Geometry. Trigonometry. Topology", and in DCC again as 530.1, as above. Neither one is classified as fiction.

Yet, say, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon has a bit of didactic (and not fictional) mathematics in it , but not as much as the above two, so there must be a spectrum for mathematical fiction from a little mathematical (classified as fiction) and a lot of mathematics (classified as mathematics or science).

If something is in the middle of the spectrum, where does it go? Where is the dividing line, since there is no separate classification for hybrids?

 

[Borek]

Classic problem, trying to classify objects from a continuum into discrete categories. The answer is: there is no clear cut answer, as classification only approximates reality. Don't let anyone to convince you that's not the case, they just lack imagination

 

[Dr Wu]

If the book's "plot" is an invented one, and genre qualifiers like "mathematical" are out, then, yes, file it under fiction. The inclusion of mathematics, even as a dominant theme, shouldn't make any difference. My copy of The New World of Mr Tompkins is shelved among my other works of fiction for this reason. Some could define it as educational fiction; but then much the same could be said of Aesop's Fables, The Pilgrim's Progress and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The point is that all good fiction is instructive to a lesser or greater degree.

 

[pbuk]

"Flatland"
https://archive.org/details/flatlandromanceo00abbo/page/n3/mode/2up has a listing of QA699.A13 530.1
( https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/browse?type=lccn&index=54678&key=QA 00000614.92 .G55&c=c )

In the British Library Flatland is classified under Dewey 516.22 (51X Mathematics -> 516 Geometry -> 516 Euclidean geometry -> 516.22 Plane geometry) which seems to me like more of an 'in' joke than a genuine classification as the book is as much political satire as it is mathematics, and more fiction than anything.

 

[pbuk]

Actually I see there are three editions in the British Library catalogue: ISBN 9781907727337 (Bibliolis Books, 2010) and ISBN 014043531X (Penguin, 1998) both classified under 823.8 English literature - Miscellaneous writings, only ISBN 0691025258 (Princeton University Press, 1991) has the 'joke' classification. It seems that librarians' sense of humour is as consistent as scientists'

 

[Ophiolite]

Classic problem, trying to classify objects from a continuum into discrete categories. The answer is: there is no clear cut answer, as classification only approximates reality

I would go a small step further and note, with emphasis, that classification systems are not real, they are abstract conveniences designed to facilitate communication or understanding. The problem posed in the OP might be addressed by a multi-axis classification system, but that would likely eliminate the general convenience of the current systems.

In regard to the OP question, I would unreservedly classify the work as fiction, but that is a subjective choice. Until we have an AI that can disect and analyse the totality of a work, weighing each word, sentence, paragraph, chapter; every assertion, omission and nuance, for its place in the system, then all classification will be somewhat subjective. (But if it facilitates communication or understanding, it is successful.)

 

[Klystron]

Librarians also tend to classify books with attention to an author's body of work.

I have browsed many public libraries and often find Robert Heinlein's travel log of his trip to the USSR, named in reference to Mark Twain's "A Tramp Abroad", filed in Fiction : Science Fiction category. When questioned that this book is a non-fiction travelogue, librarians respond that Heinlein's readers expect to find his books in F:SF section, not tucked away in Travel : USSR or some other relevant nonfiction category.

My old combinatorics and statistics university professor, Rudy Rucker, wrote a modern paean to Abbott's "Flatland" appropriately titled "Spaceland". Though Rucker has solid mathematics credentials (pun intended) and has published math and information science nonfiction books, "Spaceland" belongs in F:SF category.

When in doubt of the author's and publisher's intent, I examine the flyleaf of the volume for labels such as "This is a work of fiction..." and "Though based on actual people, this is a work of fiction..." along with modern legal verbiage. I have read historical political novels that describe actual events better than most contemporary news sources but published and categorized as Fiction to protect sources and avoid lawsuits.

 

[hmmm27]

When questioned that this book is a non-fiction travelogue, librarians respond that Heinlein's readers expect to find his books in F:SF section, not tucked away in Travel : USSR or some other relevant nonfiction category.

I've never come across it (though it's number one on my list of future acquisitions), but Tramp Royale took place in the Southern hemisphere.

 

[Klystron]

I've never come across it (though it's number one on my list of future acquisitions), but Tramp Royale took place in the Southern hemisphere.

Like his friend Isaac Asimov, Heinlein wrote many essays published in different collections and anthologies. I cannot locate the nonfiction compendium of his travel essays.

Robert and Virginia visited Russia/USSR more than once, IMS, including as part of a long voyage on the Pacific Ocean. I have the essay "PRAVDA Means Truth" in a mixed fiction/nonfiction anthology. I have not read "Tramp Royale" (thanks!) for many years. I mainly used that volume to illuminate classification difficulties facing our librarians in keeping with the subject of this thread.

Heinlein combined his travel experiences in several novels. The South Seas motif appears in "Job: a Comedy of Errors" where the protagonist enters parallel worlds by fire-walking. Ship board life and travel conditions remain a mainstay of his popular science fiction.

 

[hmmm27]

The South Seas motif appears in "Job: a Comedy of Errors"

LOL, "thanks" yourself. That's one I should revisit ; I vaguely remember something about starting off on a cruise ship, or something.