Flatland

A Romance of Many Dimensions Oxford World's Classics

by Edwin Abbott Abbott

Paperback, 160 pages

English language

Published July 17, 2006 by Oxford University Press, USA.

ISBN:: 978-0-19-280598-0

View on OpenLibrary

(14 reviews)

‘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 …

‘Upward, and yet not Northward.’

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.

57 editions

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.

NullPotential reviewed Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott

The interesting bits are burried by the boring

3 stars

Firstly it can't be dismissed how prescient a concept the fourth dimension and the importance of time was when this book was penned. The idea would be nothing more than fantasy up until Abbott's final years, when some dude named Einstein wrote a theory. The parts of the book that center around the topic of dimensions and the separations between holds up nearly 1.5 centuries later.

Unfortunately, Abbott goes into great detail on the imagined lives and societies of the creatures in the first and second dimension as a commentary on the Victorian period.