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Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) Paperback – Unabridged, September 21, 1992

by Edwin A. Abbott (Author)

824 customer reviews

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This masterpiece of science (and mathematical) fiction is a delightfully unique and highly entertaining satire that has charmed readers for more than 100 years. The work of English clergyman, educator and Shakespearean scholar Edwin A. Abbott (1838-1926), it describes the journeys of A. Square, a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, where women-thin, straight lines-are the lowliest of shapes, and where men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status.
Through strange occurrences that bring him into contact with a host of geometric forms, Square has adventures in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions) and ultimately entertains thoughts of visiting a land of four dimensions—a revolutionary idea for which he is returned to his two-dimensional world. Charmingly illustrated by the author, Flatland is not only fascinating reading, it is still a first-rate fictional introduction to the concept of the multiple dimensions of space. "Instructive, entertaining, and stimulating to the imagination." — Mathematics Teacher.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Fifty Years in the Flatland
2012 will mark the 50th anniversary in print with Dover of one of the most significant and influential books of the past century and a half. The mathematical, satirical, and religious allegory Flatland by a little-known but immensely prolific Victorian English schoolmaster and theologian Edwin Abbott Abbott, was first published anonymously in England in 1884 — Abbott wrote it under the name "A Square." The unique geometrical romance which is Flatland posited a world and its inhabitants that exist in only two dimensions and forces the reader captivated by the originality of this central idea to think deeply about the meaning of such a world. Generations of readers and students swept into the romance and fascination of geometry and other branches of mathematics and philosophy owe their introduction to this world to Flatland, which continues to entertain and stimulate new readers today, still going strong 126 years after the first edition was launched. Abbott revised the text somewhat for a second edition published just a few months after the first. Dover's 1952 edition was the first American reprinting of the amended second English edition and was published with a new Introduction by physicist Banesh Hoffmann.

From the Book:
"I CALL our world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space. Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges — and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said 'my universe': but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things."

Series: Dover Thrift Editions
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; Unabridged edition (September 21, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780486272634
ISBN-13: 978-0486272634
ASIN: 048627263X
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.2 x 8.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 824 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7 in Books > Science & Math > Physics > Mathematical Physics
- #14 in Books > Science & Math > Physics > Relativity
- #151 in Books > Science & Math > Mathematics

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S. Sinclair

Don't bother with this edition

July 16, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I've read Flatland several times in printed form -- it's one of my favorite books. I got this edition free, but even at that, this isn't worth it. The illustrations are missing, and for this book they're not just a nice addition; the pictures are crucial to following the story. (Also, the text makes references to the pictures.) There are also some mangled words and other problems.

If you're about to read this excellent book for the first time, you'd be robbing yourself of the experience by trying to follow this garbled, text-only version. If you're already a fan, you'll just find this edition frustrating. So, whether or not you've read Flatland before, please spend the $1 for a nice, edited version with the illustrations included: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated)

124 people found this helpful125 people found this helpful

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Multidimensional…

June 22, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Edward A. Abbott was a 19th century theologian and schoolmaster. He published this work in 1884. Based in part on the number of Amazon reviews, it remains well-read today. I first learned about this book when I was in school, a half century ago, and regret it has taken this long to have finally read it. The work is “multidimensional” as it were. It not only pushes the reader’s imagination to envision the concept of four or five dimensions by positing a world in which people live in one dimension LESS than the 3-dimensional world in which we are most familiar with, that is a 2-dimensional world known as flatland. It also is a social satire on the social customs of the day, including hierarchical relationships, in-group / out-group fads, and the role of women in society.

Shape is destiny! The more sides one has, the better. Women, alas, aren’t even 2-diminsional. They are a simple one-dimensional line. Men are the only ones that have breadth. The simplest are isosceles triangles, low on the societal pecking order. Equilateral triangles a bit higher, squares higher still, then pentagons… and on, to ones that have so many sides they approximate a circle, who effectively are the High Priests. And the ones that are irregular shapes: they are the outcasts.

Abbott pushes the reader’s imagination by examining the question of how various entities recognize each other in 2-dimensions, when, on first glance, everyone should appear as a line. He posits that the fog in northern climates provides a mechanism for recognizing if an object is more than a line, since the brightness of the line would fall off in the fog. With careful training, how fast the brightness falls off would denote shape and societal status, not much different, I suppose, from how clothes labels do today. One could imagine Abbott chuckling to himself when he proposed that there was a movement called the “Chromatistes” who felt that shape recognition could be enhanced by simply requiring each shape to have a standard color. There was a conflict on this issue, and the “lines” (the women) and the “circles” (the high priests) were aligned against all other shapes on the issue of the “Universal Color Bill.”

Other dimensions are visited… both below, that is, 1-dimensional space, and no dimensional space (periods), as well as above, 3-dimensional and beyond. Each dimension has grave difficulties envisioning any other world, much like we do in our own. In fact, those who advocate recognition of worlds with different structural dimensions are subject to criminal prosecution. Abbott does recognize a serious flaw in his “flatland” model in that in true 2-dimensions, no shape could really see another, so he fudges the issue a bit by indicating that each shape does have an intrinsic height, and fudges it more by calling it “brightness.” Oh well, all too many paradigms contain their own contradictions.

Overall, a stimulating read, which paved the way for the “space-time continuum” universe of four dimensions. Still, there is the flaw in his 2-dimensional world of “brightness,” the status of women, and some archaic prose. 4-stars.

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AmazonPrime Fan

Flatland is a great book but this particular hardback offering is horrible

January 10, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

The hardback version by Kessinger (ISBN 1169672019) is, in my opinion, horribly misrepresented in the description and a simply TERRIBLE edition. Amazon describes this edition as:

"This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work."

This could not possibly be further from the truth. This edition is so horribly modern and so absolutely not a facsimile reprint of the original as to make that description laughable. None of the original artwork is present. Instead it has been replaced with someone's horrible attempt at reproducing the pictures using nothing but ASCII characters.

If you're a fan of Flatland and want a nice hardback volume for your collection, this volume is not for you. If you've never read Flatland and will be reading it for the first time (which is when the illustrations are of the most value) this volume is not for you. Unless you just want to buy a book to use as firewood, this volume is not for you.

I have never returned a book to Amazon before - but will be doing so with this one.

30 people found this helpful31 people found this helpful

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Jessica

Not happy about what I received.

August 3, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I specifically ordered this copy of the book because it was supposed to be the illustrated version. While it has illustrations, they are pixelated pictures of random old paintings that have nothing to do with the story. Aside from that, the book is full of advertisements for an audiobook. Not happy.

5 people found this helpful6 people found this helpful

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