Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Softcover

Abbott, Edwin A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556354444 ISBN 13: 9781556354441

Publisher: Wipf and Stock, 2007

Synopsis

In this work about a land of two dimensions we have at once social satire, as pointed today as when it was written, and insights into theoretical science. The author, posing as a square inhabitant of Flatland, first describes his country. Then he tells of his visions of Lineland and Pointland, his trip to Spaceland, and his fate when he preaches the Third dimension in Flatland.

About this title

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).

About this edition

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1556354444
• ISBN 13: 9781556354441
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 126