Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) | 
 enlarge | Author: Edwin A. Abbott
Publisher: Dover Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $2.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  159 reviews
Sales Rank: 7122
Media: Paperback
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 96
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 048627263X
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.11
EAN: 9780486272634
ASIN: 048627263X
Publication Date: September 21, 1992
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Amazon.com Review
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. But one Flatlander, a Square, discovers the existence of a third dimension and the limits of his world's assumptions about reality and comes to understand the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England. The further mathematical fantasy, Sphereland, published 60 years later, revisits the world of Flatland in time to explore the mind-bending theories created by Albert Einstein, whose work so completely altered the scientific understanding of space, time, and matter. Among Einstein's many challenges to common sense were the ideas of curved space, an expanding universe and the fact that light does not travel in a straight line. Without use of the mathematical formulae that bar most non-scientists from an understanding of Einstein's theories, Sphereland gives lay readers ways to start comprehending these confusing but fundamental questions of our reality.
Product Description
Classic of science (and mathematical) fiction — charmingly illustrated by author — describes the journeys of A. Square and his adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions). A. Square also entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions — a revolutionary idea for which he is banished from Spaceland.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 154 more reviews...
 Flatland October 23, 2008
If you are looking for a book that makes you think this is the one. Written in 1867, its amazing that we are still having the problems that are embellished in this lovely book. This book helped me remember I need to be more empathic to others when they are limited in thier perception. And for me to never stop dreaming.
 Absolutely worth it October 13, 2008
The first contact I ever had with this book was in fourth grade when my teacher read a couple of passages as a lead-in to geometry.
That being said, I need to tell you that I hated my freshman geometry course. My teacher didn't speak English; there were all these formulas, theorems, and postulates that we had to memorize; and we spent all our time doing useless proofs. But this is getting into my high school career, and away from a review of this book.
Even though I didn't enjoy geometry, I found this book fascinating. Don't be deceived by the subtitle; it's not a love story. Abbott uses the word "romance" in the sense of "epic." I guarantee that you will stop at least once while you're reading this book to try to wrap your mind around what the fourth dimension must look like.
The only criticisms I have are about the misogyny and the pacing. In Flatland, women are treated as second-class citizens, but this is not a major theme. A few times, particularly during A Square's conversation with the King of Lineland, I got bored. But overall the book was paced well, and I'm impressed that the 19TH century churned-out any book less than two hundred pages.
Excellent book! October 2, 2008
Incredibly easy and direct way to give a new perspective into a 1D, 2D and 3D "space"!
Flatland is written in 1800's English, so it might be a little bit tricky to get it straight, if you aren't a native English speaker. Sphereland is straight forward!!
Highly recommended!
A 2D and 4D Classic Text September 8, 2008
Originally written with a Victorian theme, it is now a must-read classic for anyone who enjoys reading about the fourth dimension. The story is about a two-dimensional being (called A Square) living in a two-dimensional world (hence the title, Flatland). As a three-dimensional being imagining this two-dimensional world, you come to realize that you can understand higher-dimensional space through lower-dimensional analogies. In fact, A Square meets a three-dimensional being (A Sphere), and takes a journey beyond the second dimension. Although some readers may enjoy the book for its historical and Victorian period merits, math lovers can enjoy the book for its geometric insight.
If you are curious about the fourth dimension, you should also read:
- Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension, Rudy Rucker's novel of the fourth dimension
- Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So, a continuation of the geometric idea from Flatland
- The 4th Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality, Rudy Rucker's classic introduction to the fourth dimension
- The Visual Guide to Extra Dimensions: Volume 1: Visualizing the Fourth Dimension, Higher-Dimensional Polytopes, and Curved Hypersurfaces, a modern geometric introduction to the fourth dimension
Thinking W A Y Outside the Box August 20, 2008
Yes, many young people have been required to read Flatland against their wills. Yes, many people have missed the real point of the book. This book stretched the mind and imagination in ways that are fun and challenging. The author might not have been entirely serious in writing the book, but nonetheless provided serious food for thought.
I believe Flatland is an excellent (and quick) reading experience for minds in the formative stage, a stage I recommend maintaining throughout life. The book's theological implications were the most important to me. I had always wondered where heaven might be, how God can see inside us, and what the spirit is made of. I do not know if extrapolating the Flatland concepts into a fourth (or fifth) physical dimension reflects ultimate reality, but it provides a sufficiently possible and plausible explanation to remove rationalist objections.
The 3-D sphere that intersects the plane of reality provided the "Aha" moment. The sphere embodied perfection and could mysteriously appear and disappear. Explaining the view from above the plane to a flat square is as difficult as explaining the spiritual realm to a person unable to envision beyond the world seen with the eye. A greater-dimensional being floating above the plane can see inside the geometric shapes, reach inside their skins without intersecting their boundaries, think far more complex thoughts, and take them out of their limited reality to a better place they could not have imagined. If a Flatland person had no thickness, he would have no volume by our reckoning, and therefore no real existence. If there is a spiritual dimension and a person has no thickness in that direction at all, then he may not really exist either.
We have learned to adjust to modern concepts of reality that are no longer Euclidean and Newtonian. Perhaps we need a view of creation that is not limited by unfounded presumptions of limited dimensionality. After you ponder the concepts of Flatland and extrapolate them to your life, I wonder what new thought may form.
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