How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott’s droll and delightful ‘romance of many dimensions’ explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension on the eve of the new millennium. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers’ imaginations beyond the limits of our ‘respective dimensional prejudices’. In a world where class is determined by how many sides you possess, and women are straight lines, the prospects for enlightenment are boundless, and Abbott’s hypotheses about a fourth and higher dimensions seem startlingly relevant today.
This new edition of Flatland illuminates the social and intellectual context that produced the work as well as the timeless …
‘Upward, and yet not Northward.’
How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott’s droll and delightful ‘romance of many dimensions’ explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension on the eve of the new millennium. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers’ imaginations beyond the limits of our ‘respective dimensional prejudices’. In a world where class is determined by how many sides you possess, and women are straight lines, the prospects for enlightenment are boundless, and Abbott’s hypotheses about a fourth and higher dimensions seem startlingly relevant today.
This new edition of Flatland illuminates the social and intellectual context that produced the work as well as the timeless questions that it raises about the limits of our perception and knowledge.
It took so many tries for me to read this book. If I was more comfortable with geometry and the mathematics in general, I'd probably enjoy it more. But math and some of the concepts are difficult enough for me as it is without throwing an archaic writing style in the mix.
I tried one last time to get through it and found it difficult. Now, what the author was trying to accomplish, I can respect because it's definitely different. But I just couldn't get myself into it. However, if there's anybody out there really good at math or has a lot of time to spend playing with the concepts, it may be worth the read. I forgot who recommended this to me, but they must've forgotten my difficulty with math when they did.
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
One of my favorites, I love a good satire and this is one of the most intelligent books I've read. A great read if you like to challenge your brain and be entertained!
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This book was an excellent food for thought and thoroughly challenged my mind.
It's short and sweet. My only wish is that it would have a more conclusive ending. I realize, however, that its purpose is not to tell a story but to present ideas about society (and math).
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
3.5 stars Part 1 was a mixed bag for me, part 2 was a lot more "evenly interesting" and amusing for me. Though I wonder whether you wouldn't have to count the dimensions differently, as there seems to be time. [prtf]
Flatland is very much a book of it's time, but it's still fairly interesting to read today.
The book is roughly broken into two halves: first, Abbott discusses the society of flatland, much of which alludes to various facets of Victorian society regarding the treatment of women, the class structure, the nobility, the difficulty with moving up the social ladder, and so on. I didn't find this section all that interesting as a matter of social commentary, but it does set up some interesting challenges of a two-dimensional world that can really only perceive a single dimension.
The second half is about the narrator's experiences interacting with other dimensions; first through a vision of "Lineland" which is a one-dimensional world, then by interacting with a three-dimensional being from "Spaceland," then some brief interactions dealing with "Thoughtland" and "Pointland" which are four- and zero-dimensional worlds, respectively. Pretty much every character is …
Flatland is very much a book of it's time, but it's still fairly interesting to read today.
The book is roughly broken into two halves: first, Abbott discusses the society of flatland, much of which alludes to various facets of Victorian society regarding the treatment of women, the class structure, the nobility, the difficulty with moving up the social ladder, and so on. I didn't find this section all that interesting as a matter of social commentary, but it does set up some interesting challenges of a two-dimensional world that can really only perceive a single dimension.
The second half is about the narrator's experiences interacting with other dimensions; first through a vision of "Lineland" which is a one-dimensional world, then by interacting with a three-dimensional being from "Spaceland," then some brief interactions dealing with "Thoughtland" and "Pointland" which are four- and zero-dimensional worlds, respectively. Pretty much every character is stubborn to the point of being stupid, but the way higher-dimensional beings perceive and try to explain themselves to the lower-dimensional beings is actually an interesting thought experiment. Mathematically, everything seems very simple, but the concept of an extra direction orthogonal to our entire existence is interesting to contemplate. We can envision "up" from the perspective of a 2D plane easily, but "extra-up" from the perspective of our 3D space is something we can conceptually accept but not necessarily perceive or visualize in any way.
What might be the most interesting part of this book is its age. Flatland was published in 1884, before any conception of quantum mechanics or Hilbert spaces, but posits that beings should be able to exist in an infinite number of dimensions, each one able to perceive and move through the entirety of the lower dimensions trivially compared to those lower-dimensional beings. It's something that we can talk about mathematically today, but before any of the actual physics of this was establish Abbott was talking about some of the consequences and difficulties with the way we can communicate with other-dimensional beings. The first half of the book is somewhat stuck in the time it was written, but the second half is remarkably ahead of its time.
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I thought I was going to like this more. At first it reminded me of Zamonia, which I love. Then, I had a hard time with the fictional description of women in the land. Even though the author doesn't feel the same. The description itself took me out of the land because I no longer enjoyed being there.
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Quite a charming allegory for the English society of the time, and boy does it show it's age. This is basically covered by everyone who reviewed this book, so I am not going to talk about that. What I noticed and I haven't seen anybody mention this yet, is the fact that at the time when this book was written Darwinian evolution has already grasped popular imagination. Just look how he talked about careful pairings between men and women to produce an equilateral triangle and then how each generation after that is achieved gets more sides until it reaches their version of perfection that is the circle. As I am aware people looked towards evolution with quite an optimism at the time and started envisioning utopias that will come to existence with careful work, selection and patience. Just look at the squares enlightenment at the prospect of 3 then 4 …
Quite a charming allegory for the English society of the time, and boy does it show it's age. This is basically covered by everyone who reviewed this book, so I am not going to talk about that. What I noticed and I haven't seen anybody mention this yet, is the fact that at the time when this book was written Darwinian evolution has already grasped popular imagination. Just look how he talked about careful pairings between men and women to produce an equilateral triangle and then how each generation after that is achieved gets more sides until it reaches their version of perfection that is the circle. As I am aware people looked towards evolution with quite an optimism at the time and started envisioning utopias that will come to existence with careful work, selection and patience. Just look at the squares enlightenment at the prospect of 3 then 4 and as many dimensions it can possibly go.
Now this book, by it's writing style would get 3 stars, but no one can write something that after reading it makes me spend a night thinking about tesseracts (4 dimensional cubes) and glomes (4 dimensional spheres) and not be rewarded. Both mindfuckery and awesomeness.
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I can't believe how attached I became to characters and a world that was just made of shapes! I really enjoyed this book and how it developed a well thought-out history and culture for this world. The only thing I didn't like was the extreme sexism in the book. I know that this was merely the author mocking the Victorian era sexism, but I was distracted by how over-the-top it was.
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
можливо, мої дві зірочки (з п’яти) — занижена оцінка, але зважте, що я не є ані літературним критиком, ані істориком літератури й мистецтва, тож оцінюю (практично) усе прочитане швидше за розважальним потенціалом, ніж за суто історичною цінністю. "flatland" не є ані філософською монографією, ані підручником з начал геометрії — це авторська фантазія, те, що ми нині називаємо фантастикою. і для того, аби якось котуватися в цім жанрі, книжці бракує найперше сюжету. через це її навіть складно назвати повістю: події якось розвиваються лише в останній чверті твору, а їх хронологія охоплює аж один день (плюс умовно кілька місяців, описаних буквально одним реченням). сама ідея змалювати світ геометричних фігур була свіжа для свого часу, мабуть — але ж із неї не виросло власне оповідки? p.s. для порівняння пропоную почитати «яйце дракона» роберта форварда (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg).
Review of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions' on 'GoodReads'
4 stars
Really enjoyable story about a square that learns about the third dimension. With elements of an educational novel, this book is also brilliantly witty with a Johnathan-Swift-esque humour to the benign adventures of an unlikely protagonist in a world only a geometrist could dream up.
