Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Hardcover

9781616402341: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
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What if there existed a world consisting of only two spatial dimensions? This mind-bending supposition is the jumping-off point for one of literature's most celebrated oddities: the 1884 novella *Flatland*, one of the earliest instances of modern speculative fiction, and perhaps the only instance of mathematical satire. In Flatland, a lowly square, whose polygonal betters exhibit more sides, discovers pathways to other worlds where, alas, thinking is as rigidly defined as in his own. Class structures, the position of women (who are but mere lines), and the stolidness of religious and political leaders are sent up with chilly aplomb. Beloved by fans of science fiction, students of dimensional physics, and readers of Victorian literature, this belongs on the shelf of any serious home library.

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Review:
Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England.
From the Back Cover:

Flatland (1884) is an influential mathematical fantasy that simultaneously provides an introduction to non-Euclidean geometry and a satire on the Victorian class structure, issues of science and faith, and the role of women. A classic of early science fiction, the novel takes place in a world of two dimensions where all the characters are geometric shapes. The narrator, A Square, is a naïve, respectable citizen who is faced with proof of the existence of three dimensions when he is visited by a sphere and is forced to see the limitations of his world.

The introduction to this Broadview Edition provides context for the book’s references to Victorian culture and religion, mathematical history, and the history of philosophy. The appendices contain contemporary reviews; extracts from the work of fellow mathematical fantasy writer/mathematician Charles Hinton; Hermann von Helmboltz’s “The Axioms of Geometry” (1870); and autobiographical passages from Abbott’s The Kernel and the Husk (1886).

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  • PublisherCosimo Classics
  • Publication date2010
  • ISBN 10 1616402342
  • ISBN 13 9781616402341
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages108
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780486272634: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions: Classic Novels)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780486272634
Publisher: Dover Publications, 1992
Softcover

  • 9781420954227: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

    Digire..., 2017
    Softcover

  • 9781640320826: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

    Chump ..., 1884
    Hardcover

  • 9781670174390: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

    Indepe..., 2019
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  • 9781640320833: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

    Chump ..., 1884
    Softcover

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