The Annotated Flatland

A Romance of Many Dimensions

by Edwin Abbott Abbott, Ian Stewart

Hardcover, 160 pages

English language

Published Dec. 4, 2001 by Perseus Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-0-7382-0541-0
OCLC Number:: 48624904

Flatland is a unique, delightful satire that has charmed readers for over a century. Published in 1884 by the English clergyman and headmaster Edwin A. Abbott, it is the fanciful tale of A. Square, a two-dimensional being who is whisked away by a mysterious visitor to The Land of Three Dimensions, an experience that forever alters his worldview. Like the original, Ian Stewart's commentary takes readers on a strange and wonderful journey. With clarity and wit, Stewart illuminates Abbott's numerous Victorian references and touches on such diverse topics as ancient Babylon, Karl Marx, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Mt. Everest, H.G. Wells, and phrenology. The Annotated Flatland makes fascinating connections between Flatland and Abbott's era, resulting in a classic to rival Abbott's own, and a book that will inspire and delight curious readers for generations to come.

111 editions

Enum & Valerie reviewed Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott (Penguin Science Fiction)

Nostalgia

3 stars

I read this originally in high school age, when my computer science teacher recommended it to me. It's entertaining and it did feel good reading it again, however disguided and fascist the described society may be.

The Weaver Reads reviewed Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott (Penguin Science Fiction)

Goodreads Review of Flatland

3 stars

I read this book for the first time while I was in undergrad, and picked it up again after reading Death’s End by Liu Cixin. I think it was lost on me how much of the book is social criticism about Victorian England. The first half is an overview of what Flatland is like, and it’s obvious how rigid the social roles are, and how absurd and arbitrary their assignments are. The second half of the book explores Lineland, Flatland, Sphereland, and Pointland, and it’s here that we learn about the 3+1 visual dimensions (to humans).

The second half of the book is really quite interesting, but this short little text is a bit of a slog.

noisenerd reviewed Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott (Princeton science library)

Contender for "Greatest Book Ever"

5 stars

I'm perhaps being a little over-the-top there, but also not really. The way this book serves as political/societal satire while simultaneously teaching a fairly advanced mathematical concept in an entertaining and accessible way is masterful. The social commentary may be a bit less relevant than it was in its time, but sadly still isn't entirely irrelevant even now, and I think the geometry lesson is still one of the best explanations of the concept I've seen.