Books by David Foster Wallace

These eclectic stories--which have been prominently serialized in "Harper's, Esquire" and the "Paris Review"--explore intensely immediate states of mind with the creative daring that has won Wallace the reputation of one of the most talented fiction writers of his generation.

Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman, a switchboard operator for the Frequent and Vigorous Publishing Company, tries to cope with her great-grandmother's escape from a nursing home, her insanely jealous but not-too-passionate beau, and a cockatiel that spouts psycho-babble, Auden, and Bible quotations. A first novel. Reprint.

A collection of essays by the award-winning author of Infinite Jest shares whimsical and biting observations about such topics as the Bush-Kerry presidential race, the pain experienced by lobsters while they are being prepared for the feast, and Franz Kafka's questionable sense of humor. Reprint.

A collection of essays by the award-winning author of Infinite Jest shares whimsical and biting observations about such topics as the Bush-Kerry presidential race, the pain experienced by lobsters while they are being prepared for the feast, and Franz Kafka's questionable sense of humor. Simultaneous.

A collection of essays by the award-winning author of Infinite Jest shares whimsical and biting observations about such topics as the Bush-Kerry presidential race, the pain experienced by lobsters while they are being prepared for the feast, and Franz Kafka's questionable sense of humor.

The best-selling author of Infinite Jest on the two-thousand-year-old quest to understand infinity.
One of the outstanding voices of his generation, David Foster Wallace has won a large and devoted following for the intellectual ambition and bravura style of his fiction and essays. Now he brings his considerable talents to the history of one of math's most enduring puzzles: the seemingly paradoxical nature of infinity.
Is infinity a valid mathematical property or a meaningless abstraction? The nineteenth-century mathematical genius Georg Cantor's answer to this question not only surprised him but also shook the very foundations upon which math had been built. Cantor's counterintuitive discovery of a progression of larger and larger infinities created controversy in his time and may have hastened his mental breakdown, but it also helped lead to the development of set theory, analytic philosophy, and even computer technology.
Smart, challenging, and thoroughly rewarding, Wallace's tour de force brings immediate and high-profile recognition to the bizarre and fascinating world of higher mathematics.
About the series:Great Discoveries brings together renowned writers from diverse backgrounds to tell the stories of crucial scientific breakthroughs—the great discoveries that have gone on to transform our view of the world.

A new collection by the author of Infinite Jest includes "The Soul Is Not a Smithy," in which a lonely father recounts a daydream that distracts his son from noticing a teacher's homicidal breakdown; "The Suffering Channel," in which a sculpture artist's profile is influenced by office politics; and more.

Explores the development of Rap music and examines its place in American culture.

This exuberantly praised--and uproariously funny--first collection of nonfiction pieces by one of the most acclaimed and adventurous writers of our time--the author of "Infinite Jest"--"reconfirms Mr. Wallace's stature as one of his generation's preeminent talents" ("New York Times").