Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) | Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) | Edwin A. Abbott | Understand Multi-Dimensional Worlds

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Flatland: A Romanc...

	Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) Edwin A. Abbott Dover Publications, 1992 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 157 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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.

Exponentially entertaining!

Keep in mind that this book was written over a hundred years ago, and consider the incredible ground it covers with this little tale: geometry (obviously), physics, government, politics, the clash between the sexes, class structures, manners, human nature, psychology, philosophy and even neuroscience (consciousness)! At first reading, it's deceptively simple, but explain it out loud to someone else and you'll find yourself noticing new things. If something doesn't seem to make sense, ask yourself "why?" This story is an allegory, a metaphor for so many things that fall into disjunct categories. There's a reason for the weird; the "bump" is there to make you take notice. Read it, think about it, give it some time and you'll be on your way to understanding the incredible range of this tiny work.

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Understand Multi-Dimensional Worlds

This book is often recommend by theoretical physicists and mathematicians (most often mathematicians involved in hyperdimensional topology) to their students.

It was written by a Shakespeare scholar in Britain more than 100 years ago. The reason it is recommended by theoretical physicists, etc., is it provides the reader with a framework for understanding and trying to visualize dimensions above or beyond our ordinary four-dimensional world (length, width, heighth, space-time).

It deals with a two dimensional world with two dimensional beings and what happens when a third dimensional being interacts with a two dimensional world and what the two dimensional beings would see. It also does this in terms of a one dimensional being and one dimensional world interacting with a two dimensional world and two dimensional beings (or structures).

This book written with apparently some intent on commenting on Victorian England and its values (with what appeared to me to have some misogynistic comments within it), was otherwise an enjoyable book and really does provide a good analysis on multi-dimensional view points and visualizing or imagining hyper-dimensions.

If you are interested in advanced theoretical physics, hyperdimensional geometry or topology or mathematics, this is a very interesting book and may be useful. If you are just interested in a good unique science fiction story, I would highly recommend this. This is not an (explicit) math or science book - so you won't find any explicit mathematics (i.e., no math is required).

Excellent.

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Thinking W A Y Outside the Box

Yes, many young people have been required to read Flatland against their wills. Yes, many people have missed the real point of the book. This book stretched the mind and imagination in ways that are fun and challenging. The author might not have been entirely serious in writing the book, but nonetheless provided serious food for thought.

I believe Flatland is an excellent (and quick) reading experience for minds in the formative stage, a stage I recommend maintaining throughout life. The book's theological implications were the most important to me. I had always wondered where heaven might be, how God can see inside us, and what the spirit is made of. I do not know if extrapolating the Flatland concepts into a fourth (or fifth) physical dimension reflects ultimate reality, but it provides a sufficiently possible and plausible explanation to remove rationalist objections.

The 3-D sphere that intersects the plane of reality provided the "Aha" moment. The sphere embodied perfection and could mysteriously appear and disappear. Explaining the view from above the plane to a flat square is as difficult as explaining the spiritual realm to a person unable to envision beyond the world seen with the eye. A greater-dimensional being floating above the plane can see inside the geometric shapes, reach inside their skins without intersecting their boundaries, think far more complex thoughts, and take them out of their limited reality to a better place they could not have imagined. If a Flatland person had no thickness, he would have no volume by our reckoning, and therefore no real existence. If there is a spiritual dimension and a person has no thickness in that direction at all, then he may not really exist either.

We have learned to adjust to modern concepts of reality that are no longer Euclidean and Newtonian. Perhaps we need a view of creation that is not limited by unfounded presumptions of limited dimensionality. After you ponder the concepts of Flatland and extrapolate them to your life, I wonder what new thought may form.

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A 2D and 4D Classic Text

Originally written with a Victorian theme, it is now a must-read classic for anyone who enjoys reading about the fourth dimension. The story is about a two-dimensional being (called A Square) living in a two-dimensional world (hence the title, Flatland). As a three-dimensional being imagining this two-dimensional world, you come to realize that you can understand higher-dimensional space through lower-dimensional analogies. In fact, A Square meets a three-dimensional being (A Sphere), and takes a journey beyond the second dimension. Although some readers may enjoy the book for its historical and Victorian period merits, math lovers can enjoy the book for its geometric insight.

If you are curious about the fourth dimension, you should also read:

- Spaceland: A Novel of the Fourth Dimension, Rudy Rucker's novel of the fourth dimension
- Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So, a continuation of the geometric idea from Flatland
- The 4th Dimension: Toward a Geometry of Higher Reality, Rudy Rucker's classic introduction to the fourth dimension
- The Visual Guide to Extra Dimensions: Volume 1: Visualizing the Fourth Dimension, Higher-Dimensional Polytopes, and Curved Hypersurfaces, a modern geometric introduction to the fourth dimension

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Excellent book!

Incredibly easy and direct way to give a new perspective into a 1D, 2D and 3D "space"!

Flatland is written in 1800's English, so it might be a little bit tricky to get it straight, if you aren't a native English speaker. Sphereland is straight forward!!

Highly recommended!

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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