‘Schrdinger’s Ball’By Adam Felber$13.95

‘One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. … The entire system would express this by having in it the living and the dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.

It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. … There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.’

– E. Schrdinger, ‘The Current Situation in Quantum Mechanics,’ Physical Scientists. (1935).

One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. An improv comedian, NPR commentator, political satirist, occasional TV actor and current late-night talk show host pens a novel with the following improbable plot:

A popular and rather attractive teen accidentally kills himself while cleaning a gun, then proceeds to woo hundreds with his ethereal guitar-playing during a four-day adventure with his three best friends. Famed physicist Erwin Schrdinger haplessly leaches onto the omnipotent ‘we’ that narrates the novel (some 40 years after his death), while somewhere in Montana (which has, naturally, succeeded from the United States), the new president of the free state ponders the boundary issue. Oh, and somewhere outside a rather popular deli, a piece of pastrami sits, molding.

Such is Adam Felber’s ‘Schrdinger’s Ball,’ an intensely ridiculous, completely unscientific and alarmingly thought-provoking piece of fiction.

Not a fan of quantum physics? Not a problem. The book, Felber admits, gets the science all wrong, on purpose. In taking what was essentially a simple metaphor to the nth degree, Felber creates a world of romance and comedy, filled with will-he’s and won’t-she’s, an endearing star-crossed couple and amusingly crazy bag-ladies.

Felber takes on the challenge of integrating multiple narrators and different story lines. Though you’re occasionally left wondering what the relevance is, each plot is interesting in and of itself, and they all eventually weave together in an exciting and unexpected climax (though of course you won’t find any spoilers here).

The only criticism to be found is that the book’s quirkiness can also be its downfall; certain sections (including a lengthy piece in Shakespearean prose), carry on beyond their shelf life. And the story lines meander a bit too much in the beginning. This is possibly the result of the book’s nearly seven-year gestation (Felber started the book as a side project in 1999).

The mostly-fast-paced book’s ridiculous comedy often offsets and even makes clear rather complex talk of chaos theory and particle speeds (care of Dr. Schrdinger). This is not a book you pick up thinking you’ll be forced to question your relationship with yourself, or perhaps how you exist in relationship to others.

Oh, but you will, and oh, it will blow your mind. It’s pop-philosophy on Adderall: intense, often batty and startlingly and suddenly intelligent.

Published on October 16, 2006 at 12:00 pm