Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Edwin A. Abbott, Edwin Abbott Abbott (Illustrator), Banesh HoffmannBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
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.
Century-old classic of British letters that charmed and fascinated generations of readers; witty satire of Victorian society and unique insights into the fourth dimension.
Synopsis
An odd, amusing and still provocative fantasy. The narrator is a Square who lives in a world of two dimensions, and whose vision of a third gets him into grave trouble with the authorities.
Saturday Review
"This pre-Einstein geometrical fantasy is one of the best things of its kind that has ever been written, for it is more than an ingeniously sustained fantasy: it is a social satire, with wit as sharp as the sub-lutrous end of a Flatland woman; it is an easy philosophical introduction to the Fourth Dimension; and it is a rebuke to everyone who holds that there is no reality beyond what is perceptible by human senses."
Editorials
Asimov
The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions.— The Forward
Saturday Review
"This pre-Einstein geometrical fantasy is one of the best things of its kind that has ever been written, for it is more than an ingeniously sustained fantasy: it is a social satire, with wit as sharp as the sub-lutrous end of a Flatland woman; it is an easy philosophical introduction to the Fourth Dimension; and it is a rebuke to everyone who holds that there is no reality beyond what is perceptible by human senses."Isaac Asimov
The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions.— The Forward
Victorian Studies
Flatland has remained of interest for over a century precisely because of its ability to engage its readers on so many different planes in so many different dimensions.The Washington Post Book World
One of the most imaginative, delightful and, yes, touching works of mathematics, this slender 1884 book purports to be the memoir of A. Square, a citizen of an entirely two-dimensional world.Zentralblatt MATH Database
This reprint of Abbott's Flatland adventures contains an Introduction by Thomas Banchoff which is worth reading on its own. So if you don't have yet this book at home, go ahead and buy this edition.Zentralblatt MATH
This reprint of Abbott's Flatland adventures contains an Introduction by Thomas Banchoff which is worth reading on its own. So if you don't have yet this book at home, go ahead and buy this edition.