Customer Reviews

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Oxford World's Classics)

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This has always been a favorite of mine, so I wanted to christen my kindle with it. I imagine most people who will buy it for the kindle have probably already read it. If you like a mixture of Gulliver's Travels, Geometry and social commentary, it is worth the small amount of money. Of course you can get it for free since it was written in the late 1800's, but the Gutenberg version doesn't have good diagrams - they are all ASCII. I couldn't find diagrams in the versions available on AMAZON except the Oxford World's Classics edition, so that is the one I recommend. The diagrams are important for the geometry aspect and are excellent in this version.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is an 1884 novella written and illustrated by Edwin A. Abbott. Here, a square that lives in a two-dimensional world relates his experiences there along with his travels in one- and three-dimensional worlds.

The social classes of the country of Flatland are described in such a way as to lampoon the Victorian social hierarchy. Every inhabitant of Flatland is devoted to climbing the social ladder; order is prized more than liberty; women belong to a lower class of their own. Abbott here is not particularly subtle in his criticisms, and one must imagine that the narrow thinkers that accused Abbott of misogyny really must not have been paying very close attention (these are the nineteenth-century analogs of people who think Stephen Colbert is really a conservative).

This dated aspect of the tale may not have particular relevance for a modern audience, but Flatland still has plenty of value. Abbott's one- and two-dimensional worlds are impressively imaginative and quite well thought-out. Flatland is immersive, and along the way, Abbott manages to work in a number of profound thoughts on existence.

Flatland's lasting legacy is its discussion of dimensions. Just as Abbott takes the reader through the two-dimensional square's travails in comprehending a third dimension, so the reader is challenged to imagine a fourth. And Abbott does an excellent job of this, whether one considers this fourth dimension as time (as per general relativity) or an extra aspect of space (this is quite a bit harder to imagine). It also works if you consider the tale an allegory for God and the spiritual realm (Abbott was a rather prodigious theologian), which is not by any means a stretch given the "preaching" done in the story. In any case, it's marvelously thought-provoking.

On the whole, Flatland is a well-imagined, well-reasoned, stimulating work.

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.

As for the book itself, I defer to more erudite and compelling reviews.
I wish mainly to comment on this particular edition.
I originally ordered another edition Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions that was total rubbish - see my review. The naive and simple line-drawings of the author are inseparable from the text and character of the book, which this edition reproduce faithfully.

I read Flatland (which, I believe, in the US was published without post colon, as it was in the UK) when I was a teenager in the 1970s studying geometry and many other things (girls, art, girls, movies, girls...) without understanding much of any of it. The book fascinated me, and I went on (probably not because of it, but certainly in appreciation of it) to study Mathematics at University. I even sometimes bring it up in my consulting engagements as a way to explain how different types think of their world and learn. While there are different dimensions represented in the book, there are different learning styles, different socioeconomic exposures, different interests, different *people* we all have to deal with. I'd recommend Flatland to anyone who wants to take a different slant on why we are all different.

Everyone should read this book at some time in their life. It makes you realize the limitation of our physical senses.

You start appreciating the beauty of this work once you understand the context in which it was written and once you realize that it was written in the 19th century by a teacher for pedestrian consumption. The folks back then were probably not throwing around the word 'Dimensions' in everyday conversations as we do today.

It would be an exaggeration to say that I shed three dimensional tear drops for our Square, the Galileo of the two dimensional world who had to face the Inquisition led by the Circles and Polygons. But I hope he will take solace in the fact that I'm now a thorough convert to the Gospel of Infinite-Dimensions. Though I do have to admit there is an occasional relapse during my showers, when I find myself singing along with the monarch of the PointLand:

"Ah, the joy, ah, the joy of Thought! What can It not achieve by thinking!
Its own Thought coming to Itself, suggestive of Its disparagement, thereby to enhance Its happiness!
Sweet rebellion stirred up to result in triumph!
Ah, the divine creative power of the All in One! Ah, the joy, the joy of Being!"

Flatland, the short novel by Edwin Abbott, combines geometry, satire, and culture into a single delicious feast. The language is victorian, as it was published in 1884, but simple enough that almost anyone, of any experience with math or English, can understand exactly what is going on.

The story is simple, elegant, and hilarious, and no words are wasted.

Highly recommended. A very unique read.

The book is great. I have purchased dozens of copies in the past for my students. This E-tailer has poor communications practices: no notification that the product was shipped, no tracking method, no notice as to which carrier the product was shipped with, no notice that the recipient received the shipment (the purchase was a gift sent to another address.)

Although the item was shipped properly and received on time, it does not hold my interest.