I don't know that I can say what books like this one do other perhaps that they stimulate me. For example, I wound up watching a few hours of boxing footage while reading the book because the way de la Pava describes boxing and the watching of boxing really compelled me to learn more. He writes outlandish and zany characters. I thought of William Gaddis while reading this one, as de la Pava at times seemed to be channeling the sort of brain/drunken voice Gaddis gives us in J R.

Overall, A Naked Singularity offers a combination of sarcasm, humor, pathos, surrealism, strong voices, and weird concepts that tends to work well for me in books. I liked it a lot.