Enter the wildly inventive world of Imaginary Numbers, in which a marvelous roster of acclaimed writers conjure up magical happenings, fantastic visions, and brainteasing puzzles, all based in some way on mathematical ideas. This delightful anthology offers a connoisseur’s selection of a special brand of creative writing in which the authors play with a vast array of mathematical notions—from the marvels of infinity to the peculiarities of space-time to quantum weirdness, the relativity of time, and the curious attraction of black holes. Enjoy Edwin Abbott Abbott’s wonderfully satirical commentary on the hard life of irregular figures, excerpted from his classic Flatland. Ponder Douglas Hofstadter’s story of the incredible mathematical re-creation of Johann Sebastian Bach playing his famous composition "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and contemplate the art of writing a beautiful fugue. Puzzle over Lewis Carroll’s problem of the flower garden that looks like a serpent with corners. Savor Philip Dick’s poignant tale of the golden man who can run at the speed of light and predict the trajectories of randomly fired bullets. Tease out the implications of Andrew Marvell’s brilliant analogy between love and parallel lines. Become absorbed in william Gibson’s dystopian matrix world that looks like "a 3-D chessboard, infinite and perfectly transparent." As editor William Frucht writes, "Using mathematics to tell stories and using stories to explain mathematics are two sides of the same coin." The work of the creative writers collected here has blazed the trail for a new kind of writing, traveling beyond the dimensions of traditional narrative to create and explore visions of life and its possibilities that capture the beauty and intellectual thrill of seeing our world through mathematical eyes.