When I saw that this book was in memorial for Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, I knew I was in for something good. Before the first chapter there is an interview setup between the interviewer and Dr. Richards. We learn in this exchange that psychothotonix is a new field created by Dr. Richard and is designed to “maximize the immersive experience of the reader/ viewer of a novel or motion picture, providing thought-provoking entertainment to a broad audience”. In short, it’s an image processing technique. After this introduction, the story starts with a pair of scientists that are working at DARPA on a project related to Psychothotonix.
In the first chapter, Dr. Richard is speaking about his work and answering questions. This felt like a true college lecture. It’s a bit difficult throughout the novel to follow the specific details and the breaking up of the story for scientific literature, but the overall story was super interesting. Beyond the Tetrastatum storyline, I also thought the colorful illustrations placed here and there were a great addition, giving extra insight into the vibe of the world. There was a lot of jumping from one space-time scenario to another in a fast-paced fashion, which I found exciting but wanted more! It was constantly thought provoking, making me question what I would do if I got caught up in these different realities. Beyond wanting longer scenes, my other critique might be to have more non-disposable female characters. I would recommend reading this book though if you want a sci-fi story that revolves around believable physics!
