Ratner's Star

Blurb

Ratner's Star is a 1976 comic novel by Don DeLillo. It relates the story of a child prodigy mathematician who arrives at a secret installation to work on the problem of deciphering a mysterious message that appears to come from outer space. The novel is told in two parts; the first is a conventional narrative, the second is less so. The novel develops the idea that science, mathematics, and logic--in parting from mysticism--do not contain the fear of death, and therefore offer no respite.