- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (25 Feb 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 014043531X
- ISBN-13: 978-0140435313
- Product Dimensions: 13.4 x 1 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 413,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
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. -- "The Washington Post Book World
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. -- "Victorian Studies
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 text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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. -- "Victorian Studies
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 text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
FLATLAND has fascinated generations of readers. It is a deft mixture of social satire and science fiction that continues to pose provocative questions about perception and reality. FLATLAND is a brilliant parody of Victorian society where all existence is limited to length and breadth - its inhabitants unable even to imagine a third dimension. The amiable narrator, A Square, provides an overview of this fantastic world - its physics and metaphysics, its history, customs and religious beliefs. But when a strange visitor mysteriously appears and transports the incredulous Flatlander to the Land of Three Dimensions, his world view is forever shattered.
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First Sentence
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. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I urge you to read this insightful book. It's short and is very easy to read yet will give you a tangible way of contemplating further dimensions by reference to a society with only two (hence the title 'Flatland'). This [Dover Thrift Edition] could well be the best ever spend on a present for your head! The only negative for me is the book's portrayal of Women as straight lines with pointy ends(!), but you have to take into account that it was written by a Victorian Cleric and this part of the story presents an interesting aside in terms of a view of Victorian Society. Please don't get hung up on this point though - in every other way it is incredibly contemporary, accessible and stimulating to the mind. It is referenced by many leading popular science books and is superior to most (incredible considering its vintage). It certainly represents an essential addition to your bookshelf! I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I think the hundreds of reviews preceding this one sum up the book pretty well, so I won't recap it all here. I just wanted to point out that the reviewer who thought that Flatland was a religious allegory, with the Sphere as Jesus has defintely missed the point - Sphere is one of a line (no pun intended) of all too fallible and very much human characters who we meet in the book, illustrating one of its sharpest ironic points (I just can't help myself now).
The first is the Point, utterly convinced, in the teeth of all the evidence, of the non-existence of everything but itself. Then we meet (in a dream) the King of Lineland, who prefers to believe that the Square is a mutant woman, rather than believe in a two-dimensional space (I promise I'm not making this up). Then we have A. Square, our narrator, who has to be forced to accept the reality of three dimensions by being forcibly removed from Flatland.
And, almost at the end of the book, the Sphere, who, until now has seemed to represent enlightened wisdom, shows his own flaws, by reacting angrily and petulantly to the suggestion of fourth, fifth or higher dimensions.
The Sphere is definitely not meant to be divine - he's just as limited in vision as all the other characters. I hardly think that a clergyman would be so unflattering about Jesus.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Some science books make stuff seem complicated. Even more compliacted than it needs to be. This book, does not. This is an excellent example of a book being able to open your mind to wider possiblities by explaining stuff you already know about insticivly but have never put into words yourself. Although this book is not for the expert, it is ideal for someone just getting going or needing the chance to recap the basics.
It had me thinking for weeks.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
educational
This book was bought for my 14 year son who had requested a copy as it had been recommmended by one of his teachers at school
Published 3 months ago by mumof3
A little gem of a book
Flatland is a short, clever story that with great efficiency manages to teach some geometry, critique social values (of the period) and entertain all at once. Read more
Published 3 months ago by GJ_Reading
Awesome
Loved this book. Amazingly unique idea, combining geometry, political satire and reflecting on the human condition. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Oliver C. L. Gordon
A quirky, fun short story
A wonderful text which causes one to reflect while offer a storyline and a simplified view of science and our own fallibility. Read more
Published 9 months ago by AndrewP
Supreme guide to Flatland
As the title suggests the book is a fairly good guide to a nonexistent land with some pretty cool characteristics. Read more
Published 14 months ago by ManInsideTheHelm
A book to test your future partner
I use it to test men. If they haven't read it or refuse to read it or don't get it at all or don't return it, they are not worthy.
Published 16 months ago by Claire Khaw
It got me thinking for days!
I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to anyone! The book is kind of short but I still like it.
Published 19 months ago by Silversand
A good concept novel but not such good literature
There have been a lot of reviews already for this book which is obviously famous for the author's take on a reduced dimension reality - a line and a plane. Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2009 by H. Tee
Fantasy, society criticism and religion in one book.
This is an extraordinary book and once you read it you'll try to count how many points, lives, squares and cubes would a hypercube (tesseract) consist of. Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by Jan Janikovic
Flatland
An excellent price for a famous, slim-volume, story about a single dimensional world. Must have required a really strange insight at the time of writing. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2009 by Alan Gray
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