Report on Probability A

Blurb

Report on Probability A is a science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. The novel was completed in 1962 but was rejected by publishers in the UK, France and USA and was eventually published in 1967 in New Worlds, which described it as "perhaps his most brilliant work to date". The novel has also been described as an antinovel and is a seminal work in the British New Wave of experimental science fiction that began appearing in New Worlds following the appointment of Michael Moorcock as editor in 1964. A revised and extended version was published by Faber and Faber in 1968 and Doubleday in 1969.
According to Aldiss, the idea for the novel came from the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and its corollary that "observation alters what is observed". Taking this as his starting point, Aldiss "sat down to construct a fiction in which everything was observation within observation, and no ultimate reference point existed". The novel also incorporates several related concepts in quantum physics, notably the many-worlds interpretation and different frames of reference, and its philosophical theme is indicated in the epigram, which quotes Goethe: