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Rating: 
Summary: mind-bending yet fulfilling book
Review: For all those of you who have questioned your surroundings, this is the perfect book to get you started on a long journey. I read this book over the summer, and it taught me a lot. Not only does Rucker accurately cover the fourth dimension, but it allows your mind to take it other concepts you might have ruled out before. Even though he starts off a little advanced for the beginning reader, it's pretty easy to figure out if you piece everything together. Granted, the end of the book starts to unwind a bit, and the drawings are a little childish, but overall this is one of the best books I've read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the fourth dimension or concepts beyond their grasp.
Rating:
Summary: mind-bending yet fulfilling book
Review: For all those of you who have questioned your surroundings, this is the perfect book to get you started on a long journey. I read this book over the summer, and it taught me a lot. Not only does Rucker accurately cover the fourth dimension, but it allows your mind to take it other concepts you might have ruled out before. Even though he starts off a little advanced for the beginning reader, it's pretty easy to figure out if you piece everything together. Granted, the end of the book starts to unwind a bit, and the drawings are a little childish, but overall this is one of the best books I've read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the fourth dimension or concepts beyond their grasp.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Cartoonish Introduction
Review: Granted, this is a book aimed at the "popular science market" but it's a bit more "popular" than "scientific."Stephen Jay Gould, David Quammen and Ed Regis (among others) manage to cover complex subjects without resorting to "gee whiz" simplifications and tacky drawings. To be fair, Rudy's subject matter is more obtuse and theoretical than natural history, and his approach is likely driven by that. It just felt a little condescending.
Rating:
Summary: Nice Cartoonish Introduction
Review: Granted, this is a book aimed at the "popular science market" but it's a bit more "popular" than "scientific." Stephen Jay Gould, David Quammen and Ed Regis (among others) manage to cover complex subjects without resorting to "gee whiz" simplifications and tacky drawings. To be fair, Rudy's subject matter is more obtuse and theoretical than natural history, and his approach is likely driven by that. It just felt a little condescending.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book on higher dimensions
Review: Great Book on higher dimensions, I found that I could not put it down. Illustrations could be updated a little but over all great material. I can also say that I understand gravity better now.
Rating: 
Summary: Illusion or Reality???
Review: The idea that we live in a world with more than three dimensions is a tantalizing one, and generally, just thinking about the subject for a while can leave one with an achy head. Rucker attempts to explain the concept of fourth dimension by dissecting the world in lesser dimensions, then using the analogies to expand the world in higher levels of existence. He has done a marvelous effort in depicting the world in higher dimensions. What is left unanswered is does a Fourth dimension even exist. Is it an illusion or reality? For this review I will briefly explain the grounds on which he describes the fourth dimension. A complex three-dimensional shape is really an infinite number of simpler two-dimensional shapes stacked on top of each other. For instance, if you slice the top off of a pyramid and look at just the two dimensional plane at the top, you see a small triangle. Chopping off another layer results in another, slightly larger triangle. Stacking progressively smaller triangles on top of each other results in our three-dimensional shape of a pyramid. This is the same concept of what a two-dimensional being would see if a pyramid were to travel through its plane. First it would see a point appear out of nowhere, then it would expand into a larger and larger triangle, finally just disappearing into thin air as the pyramid moved on. Actually, what it would see is dependent on the angle the pyramid intersects the plane, and whether it's rotating. It might also see a line appear, morph into a trapezoid, and then shrink into a tiny point and disappear. By continuing our expansion in the same manner as we've been discussing, we end up with a reality of four dimensions. A being in the fourth dimension sees our three-dimensional world as an infinitely thin slice of reality. If you were looking at something from a four-dimensional viewpoint, you'd be able to see not only every outside surface of the object simultaneously, but also whatever's contained in the object. A being with four physical dimensions might travel through our three-dimensional plane, and if we saw it, it would look like a strange object appearing out of nowhere, morphing in shape for a while, and then disappearing. I felt that Rucker has taken an over simplified view of 4D by giving the pyramid (3-D) example. But what he fails to account is when the 3D object is morphing through the 2D space it will create disruptions and distortions in 2D space. In the same manner an object living in a 4D space will create the same distortions when morphing through 3D space. Such distortions have not been accounted for in any scientific works and if they did occur would have been paid due attention.
Rating:
Summary: Illusion or Reality???
Review: The idea that we live in a world with more than three dimensions is a tantalizing one, and generally, just thinking about the subject for a while can leave one with an achy head. Rucker attempts to explain the concept of fourth dimension by dissecting the world in lesser dimensions, then using the analogies to expand the world in higher levels of existence. He has done a marvelous effort in depicting the world in higher dimensions. What is left unanswered is does a Fourth dimension even exist. Is it an illusion or reality? For this review I will briefly explain the grounds on which he describes the fourth dimension. A complex three-dimensional shape is really an infinite number of simpler two-dimensional shapes stacked on top of each other. For instance, if you slice the top off of a pyramid and look at just the two dimensional plane at the top, you see a small triangle. Chopping off another layer results in another, slightly larger triangle. Stacking progressively smaller triangles on top of each other results in our three-dimensional shape of a pyramid. This is the same concept of what a two-dimensional being would see if a pyramid were to travel through its plane. First it would see a point appear out of nowhere, then it would expand into a larger and larger triangle, finally just disappearing into thin air as the pyramid moved on. Actually, what it would see is dependent on the angle the pyramid intersects the plane, and whether it's rotating. It might also see a line appear, morph into a trapezoid, and then shrink into a tiny point and disappear. By continuing our expansion in the same manner as we've been discussing, we end up with a reality of four dimensions. A being in the fourth dimension sees our three-dimensional world as an infinitely thin slice of reality. If you were looking at something from a four-dimensional viewpoint, you'd be able to see not only every outside surface of the object simultaneously, but also whatever's contained in the object. A being with four physical dimensions might travel through our three-dimensional plane, and if we saw it, it would look like a strange object appearing out of nowhere, morphing in shape for a while, and then disappearing. I felt that Rucker has taken an over simplified view of 4D by giving the pyramid (3-D) example. But what he fails to account is when the 3D object is morphing through the 2D space it will create disruptions and distortions in 2D space. In the same manner an object living in a 4D space will create the same distortions when morphing through 3D space. Such distortions have not been accounted for in any scientific works and if they did occur would have been paid due attention.
Rating:
Summary: pretty mind bending until he gets on his agenda
Review: This book pulls together a lot of study and conjecture about higher dimensions (from everywhere from Abbot's Flatland to Einstein's relativity theory) into one volume, and explains it using easy to understand analogies and imprecise cartoons. It's really cool for a while, even though you might suspect subconsciously that it's not completely realistic to expect to fully understand all this stuff. What helps him clarify so much of these theories about extra directions and the illusions of time is his dogmatism about how within reach all of this is, and this is what hurts the later sections of the book. When he begins to try to stretch this largely impractical science to explain things that really don't seem to make sense, and does it with such a converted manner that you begin to think that he is crazy and maybe you have been being fooled a little...
Rating: 
Summary: The Fourth Dimension as Higher Reality
Review: When I first read this book some twenty years ago I found it to be absolutely mind-expanding. It made me begin to see reality in a new, larger, manner- it began to shake loose my preconceptions. Now, when I review it, I find the concepts to be commonplace. How could I have ever thought otherwise? That's a measure of the transforming process that it began in me. This book will start you on the climb to a new intellectual plateau. Even synchronicity, which I had the hardest time accepting, is now a "given" for me.
Rucker is a highly effective writer- for a mathematician. His prose is clear, readable, and humorous. Plus, he examines the subject from mathematical, scientific, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives. His use of relevant quotes throughout the work is excellent- plus there is a very good bibliography for further study.
If you do feel the need for further study (and you will) then try _Exploring the Fourth Dimension_ by Ralphs, or _Extra Dimensional Universe_ by Violette. Then perhaps you may feel up to eventually tackling _Tertium Organum_ by Ouspensky, and _The Multiple States of Being_ by Guenon.
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