The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two-Dimensional World (Paperback)

by A.K. Dewdney (Author) "Yendred lived (and still lives I am sure) upon a disk-shaped planet called Arde..." (more)
Key Phrases: Tba Kryd, Bes Sallur, Balat Srar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The Planiverse ... stretches our imagination by introducing a new and different kind of world. In the process, it changes the way we look at our own. -- Discover Magazine

A worthy successor to Flatland. -- Thomas Banchoff, Nature

It's not everyone who gets to design a universe from scratch. But A.K. Dewdney has done just that. -- The Boston Globe

Once you have been captivated by the two-dimensional Ardean world, the problems facing its difficult technology haunt you, begging for more solutions. Arde easily becomes a puzzle without end. -- Erik Sandberg-Diment, The New York Times

Product Description
The year is 1981, and in the computer lab of a large university a group of graduate students and their professor are hard at work on their mainframe, graphically modeling an imaginary two-dimensional world. The project is going well, extraordinarily well, when one student suddenly notices that the world they are building with their graphics program is . . . inhabited!

So begins A.K. DewdneyÕs newly republished 1984 tale of trans-dimensional discovery and communication. The students and their professor find, to their astonishment, that they are communicating with Yendred, their only contact in the 2D world of Arde. At first disbelieving, they are soon entranced by a universe in which astonishing tiny creaturesÑindeed an entire astonishing worldÑexist solely on an x-y plane.

This book, following in the footsteps Edward AbbotÕs nineteenth century classic Flatland, is a cult favorite among mathematicians and computer scientists. As a kind of mental puzzle or brain-teaser, it challenges and delights, inviting readers to imagine just how a two-dimensional world might work. But the book is also a parable, serving as a cautionary tale about the difficulties of communication from one totally alien world to another, and suggesting that it is not only two-dimensional Ardeans who fail to see beyond the the obvious world before their eyes.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Springer (October 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387989161
• ISBN-13: 978-0387989167
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #220,705 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Wow..., March 21, 2001

By	Marco A (Maryland) - See all my reviews

I have to admit, I read this book primarily so that I could selfishly affirm what I thought of as my theory: that in two dimensions, gravity would be proportional to the inverse of distance, as opposed to the inverse square law we know and love. I was surprised and overwhelmed that Dewdney includes this observation as one among many, of which others are much more important. Dewdney crafts this discussion of two-dimensions by setting up a fictional university scenario and aside from addressing the implications of a 2D world, also adds the implications and disbelief that a discovery of this kind might cause on earth. The story is one for anyone who has thought about differences in dimension, and truly made me think about how simple, yet complex our world would seem to a four dimensional being. Dewdney even includes an appendix of distinct ramifications of two-dimensions on different fields of science. (Maybe the fact that every reviewer so far has given this book five stars means something... GO READ IT!)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you sure this is all there is?, April 30, 2003

By	Jedidiah Palosaari "Not My Real Name" (New Glarus, WI) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When I was in high-school I had a very intelligent and immensely helpful English teacher, who taught me much of what writing skill I possess today. He came in highly excited one morning, to share with us about a new book he'd come across. Evidently, they had, through a computer, discovered an entirely new reality, that was two-dimensional! And this was an actual event, cutting edge stuff.

Well, a few days later, he came in, quite chagrined, to tell us that, as he read further through the book, he realized it was a work of fiction. But his description had been interesting enough to motivate me to read the book.

The Planiverse's reality is that real, and supported by that much scientific and mathematical principle- Dewdney has done his research, to bring us one of the most delightful what-ifs I've found. Imagine reality just like ours, but take out the third dimension. Everything is well supported, every area of life covered, and the drawings immensely helpful. You truly begin to feel for all the characters in the book. But it's not just an exercise in mathematical possibility. It is a rich story, telling of spiritual journey and insight, as Yendred travels to find his answers. And I still remember the ending as grippingly and eerily numinous, as we realize how closely the Planiverse and our Universe are connected, and how limited we are in comparison to the Eternal.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back Cover, September 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Planiverse (Hardcover)

Once every hundred years or so, a new reality is discovered. In 1884 Edwin Abbott's classic, Flatland, captured readers' imaginations with and ingenious excursion into a two-dimensional society. Now, a century later, Dr. Alexander Keewatin Dewdney, a theoretical computer scientist, takes us on an exciting journey through and an amazingly complex, self-consistent two-dimensional universe. The Planiverse combines science and speculation, technology and metaphysics, in an astonishing work of the imagination that is elegant, witty, and wonderful. Dr. Dewdney created a hypothetical two-dimensional universe as an exercise for his computer science students. They developed a program called 2DWORLD to model a detailed, although somewhat primitive, planet. then one day in May 1980, something extraordinaty happened. One of the creatures began to use a word not in the computer's vocabulary--YNDRD. And as the simple graphics generated by the program grew more detailed, a strange four-armed creature appeared, surrounded by a bizarre alien landscape. Somehow, the 2DWORLD program had conected with a real two-dimensional world. the creature who appeared became known as yendred, a youthful inhabitant of Arde, a planet somewhere inside the planiverse. And so began a fantstic odyssey into a two-dimensional world--as Dr. Dewdney and his students followed Yendred on a journey across Arde, sharing his adventures, learning his history, and discussing his philosophy. With over 125 illustrations and diagrams generated from Arde, The Planiverse is a record of that contact period--the computer-aided exploration of a new reality--complete with its own physics, chemisty, biology, philosophy, and civilization. Join Yendred and Dr. Dewdney and discover new possibilities and concepts that will change the way you look at your own world. (This is one of the best books I have ever read. I stayed up late many a night reading it, totally engrossed. I became attached to the characters, I saw the whole world that is The Planiverse through the illustrations. I was dissapointed when the book had to end, I wish it could have gone on longer.)