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Flatland: a Romance of Many Dimensions

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 16,864 ratings · 1,358 reviews

With wry humor and penetrating satire, Flatland takes us on a mind-expanding journey into a different world to give us a new vision of our own. A. Square, the slightly befuddled narrator, is born into a place which is limited to two dimensionsirrevocably flatand peopled by a hierarchy of geometrical forms. In a Gulliver-like tour of his bizarre homeland, A. Square spins...more

Paperback, 103 pages

Published March 6th 1954 by Dover Publications (first published 1884)

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Apr 27, 2012 Stephen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, easton-press, 1800s, the-worlds-the-thing, science-fiction, classics-european, humor-and-satire

Take a classically styled, 19th century satire about Victorian social mores…dress it up in dimensional geometry involving anthropomorphized shapes (e.g., lines, squares, cubes, etc.)…bathe it in the sweet, scented waters of social commentary…and wrap it all around humble, open-minded Square as protagonist.

The result is Flatland, a unique “classic” parked at the intersection of a number of different genres, thus pinging the radar of a wider than normal audience to appreciate (or detest) it. Sinc...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Luana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questo libricino è talmente matto e bello che dovete andare a comprarlo, e siccome so che le mie maniere dispotiche, e poco convincenti (purtroppo non ho le doti dei venditori di cose inutili che riescono a farti comprare di tutti convincendoti che siano utili)forse non vi indurranno all'acquisto, armatevi di convincitudine vostra, e andate a comprarvelo, o a rubarlo, o a prenderlo in prestito dalla biblioteca.
Perché? Leggete quanto segue

Se come me siete sempre stati delle perfette schiappe i...more Questo libricino è talmente matto e bello che dovete andare a comprarlo, e siccome so che le mie maniere dispotiche, e poco convincenti (purtroppo non ho le doti dei venditori di cose inutili che riescono a farti comprare di tutti convincendoti che siano utili)forse non vi indurranno all'acquisto, armatevi di convincitudine vostra, e andate a comprarvelo, o a rubarlo, o a prenderlo in prestito dalla biblioteca.
Perché? Leggete quanto segue

Se come me siete sempre stati delle perfette schiappe in matematica e geometria questo è il libro che vi illuminerà di sapienza, una volta finito di leggerlo vorrete andare dai vostri vecchi professori/maestri, sbattere loro Flatlandia in testa e urlare MA CHE ACCIDENTI TI COSTAVA SPIEGARMELO COSì SEMPLICE?? . Purtroppo però temo si tratti di un provvedimento anticostituzionale, dunque, anziché prendervela con vecchi pedagoghi incapaci, potrete gentilmente ringraziare Abbott che nel 1882 ha scritto questo libro non so con quali intenti (devo ancora leggere saggi/articoli/, ma era troppo forte la voglia di parlarvene), ma di sicuro aveva capito che nel 1991 sarebbe nata una asina matematica come me, quindi ha voluto far parlare figure geometriche.

Se al contrario siete divini, comprendete la matematica e la geometria, avete l'occulto dono del far di conto e del comprendere combinazioni di lati, angoli, e quant'altro, tranquilli, a Flatlandia ce n'è anche per voi.
Per quanto siate saccenti, dubito infatti che in uno dei vostri compiti perfetti delle superiori o esami da 30/30 con lode dell'Università, le figure geometriche abbiano mai preso a muoversi o a parlare.

Ma non è tutto qui. Se pensavate che Geometria e Politica e Filosofia potessero difficilmente incastrarsi tra loro, vi sbagliavate. Perché nella Geometria di Flatlandia la Politica sessista e razzista discrimina le Donne, gli Isosceli, gli Irregolari e assurge a razza perfetta i Circoli. Quando poi qualcuno vede o sente, anche per sua non colpa, qualcosa che non andava visto o sentito, viene fatto sparire. Che cosa assurda, si potrebbe pensare. E invece no. Succede anche da noi. Quindi tranquilli, a Flatlandia ci ritroverete molto.

Non incazzatevi troppo con Abbott se ce l'aveva con le donne.
Insomma, Dante ha reagito bene. Ma a volte gli approcci sessuali non vanno a finire in Commedie, sopratutto non in Divine.

La mia cartolina da Flatlandia smette qui di essere priva di raziocinio, scusate, ma sono ancora troppo esaltata.
Se decidete di farci un salto, tuttavia, chiedetemi l'indirizzo, perché colleziono cartoline, e da Flatlandia le ricevo ben volentieri.(less)

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Jul 29, 2012 Milica Chotra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Flatland" is a mathematical satire and religious allegory, written in the shape of the memoirs of A Square, an inhabitant of a two-dimensional world, who had visited other lands - Pointland, Lineland and Spaceland - and gained invaluable insights into the structure of the Universe. Though these journeys and dreams/visions sound like a religious experience (and Edwin Abbott himself was a theologian), the main goal of "Flatland" - to make us think outside the observable world and imagine new dime...more

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Apr 15, 2008 X rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: literary mathematicians or anyone who wants to ponder the existence of higher dimensions

Recommended to X by: Kathryn

"Flatland" begins by explaining the physical and social structure of Flatland, a two-dimensional world where social status is dependent on the number of angles a figure possesses. The greater the angle and consequently the greater number of sides, the greater the status. Flatland is a surprisingly brutal world, where figures are either incarcerated or executed - depending on their social status - for being irregular or for having knowledge that the ruling class does not want them to know.
The...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Nenia Campbell rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: if-we-build-it-they-will-come, x-1880s, ye-olde-booke-shelffe, the-meaning-of-life-is-42, reviewed, cool-idea-poorly-executed, did-not-finish-or-skimmed, island-of-hype, victoriana, literachore

Mr. A. Pyramid: So there's these blokes, right? Call themselves "flatlanders." Primitive beings. Probably still think the world is flat. Except, in their case, the world is flat! Ha ha ha!

Mr. A. Cube: Good day, Mr. Pyramid! I didn't see you there. How's the missus?

Mr. A Pyramid: Off to visit the flatlanders. Some missionary thing. The vicar roped her into it. You know she can't say no to him!

Mr. A. Cube: Mr. Dodecahedron?

Mr. A. Pyramid: The very same. Bloody cheek, too, if you ask me. Thinks he'...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Jafar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is just brilliant. Written by a British mathematician in 1881, it’s a short fantasy novel about life in two dimensions. People in this book live in a two-dimensional world. They're not aware of, or can't even imagine, the third dimension. They have simple geometrical shapes like triangles and squares and other polygons. The higher the number of the sides, the higher the individual is in the social hierarchy. Those who have so many sides that they resemble a circle are priests. The land...more This book is just brilliant. Written by a British mathematician in 1881, it’s a short fantasy novel about life in two dimensions. People in this book live in a two-dimensional world. They're not aware of, or can't even imagine, the third dimension. They have simple geometrical shapes like triangles and squares and other polygons. The higher the number of the sides, the higher the individual is in the social hierarchy. Those who have so many sides that they resemble a circle are priests. The land is ruled by the Chief Circle. Squares are considered middle-class. Triangles are underclass and soldiers. The lowest status is given to women who are just straight lines. I don’t know about the political beliefs of the author. He was either mocking the sexism and the rigid social order of the Victorian Britain, or he was a supreme reactionary.

Life in two dimensions has its many challenges. As an example – everyone looks like a straight line. Shapes are recognized only when seen from above – in a 3D world. When you live on a plane and see everything on the plane level, everything is just a straight line. The author goes to some length explaining how people can distinguish shapes (similar to how 3D creatures like ourselves can have 3D vision). Life in Flatland is not as boring as you might think. A lot is going on. There are wars and revolutions too.

The story is narrated by a smart Square who is visited by a Sphere from a three-dimensional world. People in Flatland cannot even imagine a third dimension, like we can’t imagine a fourth spatial dimension. Imagine that you’re 2D and a sphere from a 3D space passes through your plane. It is only a point at first, then becomes a circle growing in size, then a circle shrinking in size, until it disappears. All the while, you have no idea where the circle came from and where it went to. A 3D entity can see and touch the inside of your body (from above, but you don’t know what above is). If you’ve locked away things in your 2D safe, the 3D guy can pick them up from there and put them in front of you. There are countless fantastical things that the 3D guy can do in your 2D world – all magic to you! Think of the implications for us if there is a fourth spatial dimension and something comes to us from the 4D space.
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Mar 02, 2009 rgb rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When you read this book, keep two things in mind. First, it was written back in 1880, when relativity had not yet been invented, when quantum theory was not yet discovered, when only a handful of mathematicians had the courage (yet) to challenge Euclid and imagine curved space geometries and geometries with infinite dimensionality. As such, it is an absolutely brilliant work of speculative mathematics deftly hidden in a peculiar but strangely amusing social satire.

Second, its point, even about i...more When you read this book, keep two things in mind. First, it was written back in 1880, when relativity had not yet been invented, when quantum theory was not yet discovered, when only a handful of mathematicians had the courage (yet) to challenge Euclid and imagine curved space geometries and geometries with infinite dimensionality. As such, it is an absolutely brilliant work of speculative mathematics deftly hidden in a peculiar but strangely amusing social satire.

Second, its point, even about itself, is still as apropos today as it was then. We still do not really know what the true dimensionality of the Universe is. It seems somehow unlikely that it is just "four", even in terms of spacetime dimensions. String theory talks seriously about thousands of dimensions. Quantum theory implements very seriously infinite numbers of dimensions. And yet we are still stuck in our 3 space dimensions mentally, hardly able to visualize the 4 in which we live "properly" unless we study theoretical physics for a decade or three, and utterly unable to mentally imagine those four embedded in a veritable Hilbert's Grand Hotel of dimensions.

Ultimately, this is a book about keeping an open mind. A really open mind -- avoiding the trap of scientific materialism and the trap of theistic idealism and the trap of any other favorite -ism you might come up with. Our entire visible space-time continuum could be nothing more than a single thin page in an infinitely thick book of similar pages, that book one of an infinite number of similar books on an infinite shelf, that shelf but one such shelf in an infinite bookcase of shelves, that bookcase but one in an infinite library of bookcases, that library but one... but by now you get the idea.

We have a hard time opening our minds up to the enormous range of possibilities, preferring to live our lives mentally trapped in a single tiny period on just one of those pages, in pointland. We may be quite unable to actually perceive the space in which our tiny point is embedded, but our minds are capable of conceiving it, and Abbot's lovely parable is a mind-expanding work to those who choose to read it that way.

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May 16, 2008 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I was dubious starting this, as it's written in a high Victorian style that can be a bit of a slog, and the introduction, which is mercifully short, did not exactly make my heart leap up like an eagle at the thought of continuing. But once I got into the book proper, it turned out to be a delight on a lot of levels -- for example, as a satire of stratified Victorian society (and our own, too); as a commentary on the dangers of bucking conventional wisdom; and on the difficulty of pushing our min...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Antonio rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

'Planilandia' es uno de esos libros a los que tenía muchas ganas desde hace años cuando escuché sobre él en el programa de radio 'La Rosa de los Vientos' pero no ha sido hasta ahora que le he echado el guante y en un par de días lo he terminado ya que se trata de apenas 100 páginas.

Edwin A. Abbot nos presenta Planilandia, un universo de dos dimensiones y nos describe cómo son los seres que habitan allí (triángulos, cuadrados y todo tipo de polígonos), las leyes, el modo de vida... Todo ello de l...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Doris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Being frank, the only reason I read this book was because it was famous. Well, I guess the 'romance' part helped too. That is, until my brother clearly stated that a 'romance' does not necessarily mean it is like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Anyway back to the topic, again, being honest, I found Flatland quite boring. I suspect that may be because it is popular among mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists. This book tells the story of a, well, square. In a two-dimensional world calle...more Being frank, the only reason I read this book was because it was famous. Well, I guess the 'romance' part helped too. That is, until my brother clearly stated that a 'romance' does not necessarily mean it is like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Anyway back to the topic, again, being honest, I found Flatland quite boring. I suspect that may be because it is popular among mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists. This book tells the story of a, well, square. In a two-dimensional world called Flatland. In Flatland, women are mere lines (who are capable of murder, both accidental and accidentally on purpose as a result of them being so thin and sharp) which men are polygons, with how many sides you have depending on which class you belong in. This square one day has a dream. In this dream, he visits a queer one-dimensional world which are inhabited by queerer dots. Here he tries to convince the king of this world that his world is not alone. He fails. Later in the book he is visited by a cube, who introduces him into a three-dimensional world. However, this cube refuses to believe a fourth world is possible. In the end, he was imprisoned by the higher-ups of Flatland for preaching about the other worlds.

Amazingly, the actual story only took up half of the book. The other half was to describe how Flatland, the world, worked.

Since most of the readers seem to take a mathematical view on this story, I will take a simpler view. I think that this book succeeds in portraying human nature and ignorance. The rulers of Flatland refused to believe other worlds existed, and neither did the king of Lineland or the cube. I think this shows that humans tend to want to think of themselves as superior, as the middle of the universe. The act of imprisoning the square may have been driven by fear of their belief being proven wrong. Perhaps when our world was still young and not everything was discovered, some rulers were like that as well.

Because I truly struggled to get through the book and probably was not ready for a complicated book like this, I did not manage to get many ideas out of it. However, I respect the author for having such creativity and being able to paint not one, but three worlds with such detail.(less)

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Feb 08, 2013 Kyle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

The quintessential thinking person's book. This book has inspired physicists, philosophers, and others for generations and has had a profound impact on the modern human intellect. Even with all the wonderful and hilarious satire regarding Victorian society aside, few literary works manage to pack as much punch into so small a package as Flatland.
Additionally, it's tremendously accessible and easy to understand for someone who may not know what the book is about to begin with.

So grab a relaxin...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Stela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviews, science-fiction

I first read about this novella in a book of Mircea Eliade (“The Art of Dying”, I think) and although I found the idea very ingenuous, I couldn’t imagine it developed in a long work without becoming sort of – boring.
Surprisingly, it was not at all like that. The narrator, a Square, having had the revelation of “Many Dimensions” divides his “romance” in two parts: his world and other worlds, visited or imagined. The perspective is one of a two-dimensional character whose goal is not only to expl...more I first read about this novella in a book of Mircea Eliade (“The Art of Dying”, I think) and although I found the idea very ingenuous, I couldn’t imagine it developed in a long work without becoming sort of – boring.
Surprisingly, it was not at all like that. The narrator, a Square, having had the revelation of “Many Dimensions” divides his “romance” in two parts: his world and other worlds, visited or imagined. The perspective is one of a two-dimensional character whose goal is not only to explain his world to the others but also to understand and explain the other worlds to his people
It was said that “Flatland” is a satire of Victorian England, with its class hierarchy and women’s inferior condition, which it is, but it is also a key to understand other dimensions using geometry and it’s no wonder it was rediscovered after Einstein’s theory of relativity was published. Like the Spheres in the story, the readers probably considered the fourth dimension only a foolish idea until then, so you can say this book is also about the limitations of the human mind.
Anyway, some pages are pure poetry:
- the staccato of arguments in favour of destroying the Irregular inhabitants of Flatland: “If a man with a triangular front and a polygonal back were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more Irregular posterity, what would become of the arts of life? Are the houses and doors and churches in Flatland to be altered in order to accommodate such monsters? Are our ticket-collectors to be required to measure every man's perimeter before they allow him to enter a theatre, or to take his place in a lecture room? Is an Irregular to be exempted from the militia? And if not, how is he to be prevented from carrying desolation into the ranks of his comrades?”
- Love defined as an absolute pitch in Lineland: “So exquisite is the adaptation of Bass and Treble, of Tenor to Contralto, that oftentimes the Loved Ones, though twenty thousand leagues away, recognize at once the responsive note of their destined Lover”.
- The expulsion from Spaceland, resented like a fall from Paradise: “Down! down! down! I was rapidly descending; and I knew that return to Flatland was my doom. One glimpse, one last and never-to-be-forgotten glimpse I had of that dull level wilderness—which was now to become my Universe again— spread out before my eye. Then a darkness. Then a final, all- consummating thunder-peal; and, when I came to myself, I was once more a common creeping Square, in my Study at home, listening to the Peace- Cry of my approaching Wife.”
- Last but not least, the Rig-Veda-like description of the no-space, no-land: “That Point is a Being like ourselves, but confined to the non-dimensional Gulf. He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality; for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing.”

Overall, a mini-jewel, maybe not an essential reading, but certainly an interesting enough one.

La rugamintea prietenei mele Pusa, am facut o traducere de circumstanta în limba româna a acestui roman (care nu cred ca a fost tradus):

Am auzit prima data despre acest mic roman într-o carte de Mircea Eliade (Arta de a muri, cred) si desi mi-a placut ideea, nu mi se parea posibil de dezvoltat într-o opera mai mare fara sa devina plicticoasa.
Surprinzator, n-a fost asa. Naratorul, un Patrat, dupa ce a avut revelatia mai multor dimensiuni, isi scrie “romantul” împartindu-l in doua parti: lumea lui si alte lumi, vizitate sau imaginate. Perspectiva este a unui character bidimensional al carui scop nu este numai sa-si descrie propria lume ci si sa înteleaga si sa explice celelalte lumi alor sai.
S-a spus ca “Platlanda” e o satira a Angliei victoriene, cu ierarhiile ei sociale si conditia inferioara a femeii, si asa si este, dar este de asemenea o cheie pentru intelegerea altor dimensiuni folosind geometria, asa ca nu e de mirare ca a fost redescoperita dupa publicarea teoriei relativitatii a lui Einstein. La fel ca Sferele din carte, cititorii considerasera probabil pîna atunci a patra dimensiune doar o idee nebuneasca, deci putem spune ca romanul are ca tema si limitele mintii umane.
În orice caz, unele pagini sint poezie pura:
- argumentele în staccato pentru distrugerea locuitorilor Neregulati din Platlanda: ”Daca un om triunghiular în fata si poligonal în spate ar fi lasat sa existe si sa se înmulteasca, ce s-ar întîmpla cu viata noastra? Ar trebui sa modificam usile caselor si bisericile din Platlanda pe masura unor asemenea monstri? Ar trebui ca verificatorii de bilete sa masoare perimetrul fiecarui om înainte de a-l lasa sa intre într-un teatru ori sa se aseze într-o aula? Ar trebui ca Neregulatii sa fie scutiti de militie? Si daca nu, cum ar putea sa se previna sa nu provoace dezolare în rîndurile camarazilor lor?”
- dragostea definita ca un accord perfect în Liniarlanda: “Atît de rafinat este acordul Basului cu Soprana, a Tenorului cu Contralta încît adesea îndragostitii, chiar si de la douazeci de mii de leghe distanta, recunosc imediat nota de raspuns a Iubitului predestinat.”
- alungarea din Spatiolanda, resimtita ca o cadere din Paradis: “Jos! Jos! Jos! Coboram cu repeziciune si stiam ca întoarcerea în Platlanda era pedeapsa mea. Doar o privire, o ultima si pe-veci-de-neuitat privire am aruncat asupra acelui desert plat si monoton – care se pregatea sa redevina universul meu – întins în fata ochilor mei. Apoi, întuneric. Apoi o ultima, cumplita bubuitura de tunet; si cînd mi-am revenit în simtiri, eram din nou un Patrat tîrîtor obisnuit, în biroul meu de acasa, ascultînd strigatul de avertisment al sotiei mele care se apropia.”
- În sfîrsit, descrierea non-spatiului, non-planului, ca în Rig-Veda: “Acel Punct este o fiinta ca noi, dar izolat în non-dimensiune. El este propria lui Lume, propriul lui Univers; nu poate concepe pe altcineva în afara lui însusi; nu stie ce este aceea Lungime, Latime, Înaltime, pentru ca nu are experienta lor; nu are stiinta nici macar de numarul Doi, si niciodata n-a gîndit Pluralitatea; pentru ca îsi este siesi Unul si Totul, cînd în realitate nu este Nimic.”
În concluzie, o mica bijuterie, poate nu o lectura esentiala, dar cu siguranta una interesanta.
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May 15, 2012 Kat Hooper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, published in 1884, is Edwin A. Abbott's social satire and Christian apologetic. As a Cambridge mathematician, theologian, and schoolmaster, Abbott had a lot to say about his Victorian society and about being open-minded to the supernatural. He does this from the point of view of a humble square that lives in Flatland, a world of only two dimensions.

For the first half of the book ("This World"), the square explains th...more

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Jul 15, 2011 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://www.libriecaffelatte.com/2011/...

I DUE ASPETTI-IDEE DEL LIBRO CHE HO APPREZZATO DI PIU': la Gerarchia Geometrica e le Femmine Filiformi.
La Gerarchia in Flatlandia è in base al numero dei lati del poligono, più lati si ha e più in alto si è. Quindi un triangolo sarà nella classe più bassa mentre un poligono con molti lati e con la forma il più vicino possibile al cerchio sarà addirittura un "privilegiato".
Invece, le femmine sono viste come linee rette ma appuntite. Temibili e, alle volte,...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book should not be read in hopes of finding an entertaining story. As a novel, it's terrible. It's plot (if you can call it that) is simple and contrived. But, it wasn't written as a novel.

Flatland is a mathematical essay, meant to explain a point: that higher dimensions (more than length, depth and width) may be present in our universe, but if they are, it will be nearly impossible for us to understand them.

The story itself consists of a two dimensional world (Flatland), in which there are...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Samuel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An amusing essay of a life in 2D as written by a square, including gentlemanly summations of society, education and political upheaval-cum-reformation. Forays into the one-dimensional Lineland and the three-dimensional Spaceland further complicate the square's already troublesome perception of the world he typically inhabits, and hint at a greater fourth-dimension above even the 3rd. Exceedingly well written and not wholly out of date considering the year of it's first publication; reading in be...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Russell rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the direct result of drug overdose. In Psychology, we studied how our consciousness becomes altered by certain things, like sleep, sleep deprivation, drugs, and near-death experiences. I think that the mathematician, Edwin Abbott Abbott, needed sleep, less drugs, and life experiences OUTSIDE of the house because he imagined less-than-exciting characters with lower-than-poop plans. During sleep, we dream, which is an altered consciousness. Now, all of Edwin's dreams, just because he wrot...more

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Mar 23, 2008 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For modern readers, the most compelling aspect of Flatland is inevitably the philosophical and theological undertones of the book. It is the story of A. Square, who is the resident of an entirely two dimensional world in which everything exists on a single plane. Flatland, as the narrator names his world, is inhabited various geometrical figures who go about their lives unable to see more than a single straight line. In the course of the book, the narrator is visited by a sphere, who comes from...more

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Feb 11, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished, owned-and-gave-away

Flatland is one of those pseudo-scientific novels that has since become a piece of the scientific canon in the same way that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has; when attempting to explain theoretical physics to a class, and at a dead-end, a professor is most liekly to turn to an analogy from Flatland. Which makes sense. Flatland is the story of A. Square, a resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, and how he comes to understand that there are universes in every dimension. Previous to this, th...more Flatland is one of those pseudo-scientific novels that has since become a piece of the scientific canon in the same way that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has; when attempting to explain theoretical physics to a class, and at a dead-end, a professor is most liekly to turn to an analogy from Flatland. Which makes sense. Flatland is the story of A. Square, a resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, and how he comes to understand that there are universes in every dimension. Previous to this, the idea of any universe but his own two-dimensional universe was unthinkable; by the end of the novel, he is positing the existence of a great, infinitely-dimensional being-- god. This is not surprising; Edwin Abbott was a theologist first and foremost. What is surprising is how modern eyes have seen this tale, and it gives us a perspective on the endless debate as to whether the author's belief about his story is the final and "right" one.

Abbott meant his book as a treatise on theoretical physics-- if at all-- in only a minor way. According to Abbott himself, his main goal in the writing of Flatland was to produce a kind of "satire of manners" on Victorian England. And, given what little I know of the ways of life in Victorian England, he seems to be right on the money. But what do I know? Abbott's assertion is backed up by the structure of the novel, certainly; the first hundred pages of this small (hundred fifty page) tome are devoted to the customs and mores of Flatland. How stinging a criticism they are of the values and mores of Victorian England is not for me to say. Thus, those of us who are not historians are left with the final fifty pages, and the impact of the first hundred pages upon them (which, aside form the knowledge gained therein, is minimal); and, at least as far as the physicists go, the book has metamorphosed into a trestise on theoretical physics.

I'm not a theoretical physicist, either, but I've always been interested in mathematics in a sort of hobbylike way, and the math presented in Flatland is good, solid theory that also happens to be thought-provoking. Seeing how A. Square's realization of how the third dimension works dawns on him, and seeing how Lord Sphere explains the mechanics of the third dimension to A. Square, it is easy to take those arguments and make them to postulate a theoretical fourth dimension (albeit one that is impossible to visualize, at least within the narrow scope of my mathematical knowledge) and its supercubes with sixteen points and eight faces, and the like.

The point is, however, we seem to have taken a minor part of the book's appeal to its original audience and made that its full appeal today. We still think it's good (or it wouldn't still be in print a hundred sixteen years after its release, no?), but we think different aspects of it are good. The opinions of the artist have passed on, and the work itself remains in a different perspective. (less)

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Jan 03, 2008 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ha, another one of those bizarre science/math books that I enjoyed reading. In this book the protagonist is a square. Yes, a two dimentional figure with four equal sides and four right angles. This square resides in a place where there are only to dimensions. Class is defined by the number of sides a figure contains. The more sides one has the closer it gets to a circle, which is considered to be the highest member of Flatland Society.
What I find hilarious about this novel is that women are all...more

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Sep 11, 2007 Jarrodtrainque added it · review of another edition

Unless you're a mathematician, the chances of you reading any novels about geometry are probably slender. But if you read only two in your life, these are the ones. Taken together, they form a couple of accessible and charming explanations of geometry and physics for the curious non-mathematician. Flatland, which is also available under separate cover, was published in 1880 and imagines a two-dimensional world inhabited by sentient geometric shapes who think their planar world is all there is. B...more

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Jul 13, 2007 Beguine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A quietly whacky, thoroughly odd book that's two parts geometry, two parts satire/social commentary, and one part story. It's a what-if story, a kind of proto hard science fiction, that details the lives and customs of a group of two dimensional figures wherein middle class pentagons try to make matches that will produce children with more sides and less acute angels, women are lines and almost wholly the chattel of their husbands (though chattel that must be appeased as they can kill with a tou...more

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Feb 13, 2009 Kathleen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: math-science, fiction

This book is about math in the same way that Anna Karenina is about a train. Yes, it is written from the first person point of view of a square. The fact that the angles of a polygon's vertexes determine his place in the class structure makes the story no less a criticism of the social divisions of Abbot's day.

Abbot uses the mathematical metaphor of dimension to berate his society for a very limited worldview. In doing this he, as so many great minds before him, used math to illustrate his argum...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Samuel76 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lem_6, scat_32

Lettura consigliata a tutti, non porta via molto tempo, ed "apre" gli occhi, o meglio, permette al lettore di vedere il suo mondo sotto altri punti di vista, e di espanderli... escludendo l'evidente maschilismo presente e la denigrazione della donna in se (anche comprensibile considerato l'anno in cui � scritto il racconto). "Avanti" nel modo di scrivere, come gi� detto poco sopra, in relazione all'anno in cui ci si trova, ingenuo (sotto alcuni punti di vista) se rapportato ai giorni nostri. Rac...more

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Jan 02, 2009 julie added it · review of another edition

Recommended to julie by: Mrs. LuAnn Blackman

The Summer Reading book assigned for 9th grade Geometry, to be read the summer prior. Most BORING book I'd ever read since I tried to muttle through Lassie Comes Home for 7th grade Reading Class(another req'd summer reading assignment). I could appreciate Abbott's remarkably creative expression of the material: a whimsical story incorporating geometry through a plotline and through an abstract, mathematically sound setting. I wished desperately that I could visualize the story--I struggled great...more

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May 15, 2013 Tom Lombardo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Edwin Abbott became an Anglican Reverend in 1862 and spent most of his life as an inspiring and beloved teacher at the City of London School. He wrote over forty books, most of them theological, except the ones that were textbooks, and he was generally as conservative as you would expect an Anglican schoolteacher to be.

But there was something radical and daring underneath the conformist's cloak. Absolutely nothing else in his corpus of works is anything remotely like Flatland, which gives it an...more

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May 12, 2013 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This science fiction, literary critique is full of geometry and math making it unlike any book I have ever read. I am not a math person at all (my lowest grade in high-school was a D+ in Geometry despite saying after 4 days a week) so I felt that most of this book went over my head. I did find the idea of a two-dimensional universe very interesting and the author’s description of this world thorough and mind bending. For readers like me don’t let the small number of pages fool you into thinking...more

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Mar 14, 2013 Erin Burr rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a romance in the modern sense. It's more a dystopian tragedy and satire.

I first heard of it when researching fiction stories that incorporate math. I love Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar and Sir Cumference: And the First Round Table. This is quite a bit drier than those more recent books, as well as being intended for an older audience. I listened to it on Librivox while working on a mind-numbingly boring project. If I'd attempted the book in other circumstances, I'm not sure I wo...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Tom Marcinko rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This 1884 novella is a one-of-a-kind book. The world of two dimensions is inhabited by geometric shapes. The more angles you have, the greater your social status. The female of the species, sorry to say, is just a line. If you’re born with an irregular shape, you’re screwed.

But there are other worlds besides Flatland: Pointland, Lineland, and the impossible-to-perceive three-dimensional realm of Spaceland.

Way ahead of its time, for speculation about the nature of space-time and the limits of kn...more This 1884 novella is a one-of-a-kind book. The world of two dimensions is inhabited by geometric shapes. The more angles you have, the greater your social status. The female of the species, sorry to say, is just a line. If you’re born with an irregular shape, you’re screwed.

But there are other worlds besides Flatland: Pointland, Lineland, and the impossible-to-perceive three-dimensional realm of Spaceland.

Way ahead of its time, for speculation about the nature of space-time and the limits of knowledge, and its satire of Victorian society, religious dogma and revelation, conformity, fashion, and the nature-versus-nurture debate.

A few quotations:

“The Irregular,” they say, “is from his birth scouted by his own parents, derided by his brother and sisters, neglected by the domestics, scorned and suspected by society, and excluded from all posts of responsibility, trust, and useful activity. His every moment is jealously watched by the police till he comes of age and presents himself for inspection; then he is either destroyed, if he is found to exceed the fixed margin of deviation, or else immured in a Government Office as a clerk of the seventh class; prevented from marriage; forced to drudge at an uninteresting occupation for a miserable stipend; obliged to live and board at the office, and to take even his vacation under close supervision; what wonder that human nature, even in the best and purest, is perverted by such surroundings!”

…I for my part have never known an Irregular who was not what Nature evidently intended him to be—a hypocrite, a misanthropist, and, up to the limits of his power, a perpetrator of all manner of mischief.

The art of healing also has achieved some of its most glorious triumphs in the compressions, extensions, trepannings, colligations, and other surgical or diaetetic operations by which Irregularity has been partly or wholly cured.

[The Circles, or Priests:] …doing nothing themselves, they are the Causes of everything worth doing, that is done by others.

[A Linelander:] Not being able either to move or to see, save in his Straight Line, he has no conception of anything out of it.

“…yet some more spacious Space, some more dimensionable Dimensionality…”

“The time is short, and much remains to be done before you are fit to proclaim the Gospel of Three Dimensions to your blind benighted countrymen in Flatland.”

(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Tiffany Robbins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The social commentary is as true and precise as any I can imagine being written even by modern authors with full knowledge of our current and past civil rights battles. I firmly believe this book should be taught in schools right now as the potential for lively discussion amongst students makes me envious of every interesting literature teacher out there who would indulge their students in such a debate. If I were a teacher (which has often been my desire), this book would almost be enough to ma...more The social commentary is as true and precise as any I can imagine being written even by modern authors with full knowledge of our current and past civil rights battles. I firmly believe this book should be taught in schools right now as the potential for lively discussion amongst students makes me envious of every interesting literature teacher out there who would indulge their students in such a debate. If I were a teacher (which has often been my desire), this book would almost be enough to make me put aside my love for mathematics (which are also indulged in this book-obviously) and replace it with a study of literature.

I wanted to share an excerpt that I read last night, which made me want to share this masterpiece with you all:

“Doubtless, the life of an Irregular is hard; but the interests of the Greater Number require that it shall be hard. If a man with a triangular front and a polygonal back were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more Irregular posterity, what would become of the arts of life? Are the houses and doors and churches in Flatland to be altered in order to accommodate such monsters? Are our ticket-collectors to be required to measure every man’s perimeter before they allow him to enter a theatre, or to take his place in a lecture room? Is an Irregular to be exempted from the militia? And if not, how is he to be prevented from carrying desolation into the ranks of his comrades? Again, what irresistible temptations to fraudulent impostures must needs beset such a creature! How easy for him to enter a shop with his polygonal front foremost, and to order goods to any extent from a confiding tradesman! Let the advocates of a falsely called Philanthropy plead as they may for the abrogation of the Irregular Penal Laws, I for my part have never known an Irregular who was not also what Nature evidently intended him to be—a hypocrite, a misanthropist, and, up to the limits of his power, a perpetrator of all manner of mischief.”

In the chapter which this excerpt is take from, the author is writing about irregular shapes in his world and about how they are nearly outlawed. Often they are killed or imprisoned as a mercy because there is no place for them in such a world. Early in the book, I was floored by the world’s treatment of women (straight lines) as barbaric. Once I came to this chapter on the irregular shapes, I was overwhelmed by the commentary on the irregulars or those who don’t mesh with society’s norm. Of course, when look at on the surface (pun intended), the two-dimensional world’s treatment of their women, acute triangles, and irregular shapes is in actuality very wise as these ones possess a physical danger to others in their world; however, when these principles are applied to our own three-dimensional world, then the true morality of such treatment is manifest.(less)

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About Edwin A. Abbott

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Edwin Abbott Abbott (December 20, 1838 - 1926), English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the mathematical satire Flatland (1884).

He was educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honours in classics, mathematics and theology, and became fellow of his college. In 1862 he took orders. After holdi...more

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