This slim book is a book of geometry made simple, in a sort of Sophie’s World style, but it’s a lot more than that. While the story is about an inhabitant of a 2 dimensional universe (A Square is what he goes by) who is shown how a one dimensional and a non-dimensional world would work, and then shown the 3 dimensional world of solids, it’s also a social satire. Written during the Victorian era, he mocks the class system & government through is description of 2-D Flatland. The author has been called a misogynist, but I’m not sure if he really was, or if he was satirizing the view, commonly held in his day, of women as emotional, brainless idiots. Given that he also describes military men as stupid and violent, and has the Square hold the upper classes (the more oblique your angles, the higher your class- circles are the top caste) in unwonted awe, I’m going to guess that the misogyny was part of the satire.

The actual purpose of the book seems to be to get people’s heads around the idea of a 4th dimension. I’m not sure he accomplished that, but it was a good read and not dated by being over a hundred years old. ( )

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions is a great little book by Edwin Abbott. Flatland is a mathematical adventure on geometry. It takes place on a two-dimensional world with a strict hierarchical society based on the shape of its individuals and it describes the consequences of the adventure of one of those individuals (a square) through the realms of three-dimensions.

It's a great book that makes us think about more-than-three-dimensional spaces and objects through analogy with two- and one- and even zero-dimensional worlds.

As I read this, I thought it would be interesting to see an animation version of this book, but it turns out there are already some movies on Flatland. There is even a recent one with Martin Sheen (voice). ( )

This is a truly excellent book. It gave me a whole new outlook on multiple dimensions. ( )

The first part of this book, where the specifics of life in Flatland are explained, is boring and a bit awkward. It does give "life" to the inhabitants of that flat world and perhaps the rest of the book wouldn't be as captivating without it, but it feels like a kid ranting on about his cool new fantasy. Or perhaps I'm too informed in math to be thrilled by it. Actually I was disappointed by the "fog", I was expecting some motion-related means of identification.

What strikes out from the description is of course the stiff class society. The idea of relating world views and actual worlds is great. I mean, how can one make a better point of someone's narrow-mindedness than exposing him to an infinitely larger world.

The sphere refusing to understand or accept the possibility of higher dimensions is also a very strong scene. It can be viewed as a student questioning his mentor, who becomes aggressive, or as a reminder that although one has a reason to criticize another society, one's own is not perfect. ( )

Who thought that Euclidean Geometry could be so much fun? This is a book that I have read many times since I first read it in the 9th grade; when we believed it was an esoteric work whose real meaning was about the reality of life in other dimensions. I even found myself in a long discussion with a retired Air Force colonel about the possibility and significance of multiple dimensions with multiple life-forms. The colonel was a kind and patient provocateur who gently brought me back to earth and in an almost Socratic manner helped me put the book and my thoughts about it in a more realistic perspective and one that was more in line with the intentions of the author. So, for me, the book is very special as it gave me a special friend who helped me through the many terrible things young boys with new-step fathers go through. ( )

Food for thought for those who advocate string theory. I would put this book down on my essential reading list if I were to answer the question; what makes a person well read. ( )

Many people, when discussing complicated issues like religion or god, do not understand what it means to observe an entity that exists in a space that has one dimension more than themselves. Conversely, they often do not consider what it means to understand how they might be seen by an entity that exists in a space with one dimension less than their own. While these points are not surprising on their own -- beings in other dimensions are not obvious things! -- what is surprising is the lack of use of this information by those who advocate the existence of such beings (ie. God). I think Flatland provides fodder for many deists but is, unfortunately, neglected by the same. ( )

A two-dimensional being discovers the third dimension. ( )

Imagine a world where things exist on a plane of two dimensions. There is no up and down at all. People this world with polygons whose social position is ruled by the number of sides they have (triangles are the plebs, circles are the priests) and the class structure is rigidly adhered to.Then imagine of young person in this world who is contacted by a three dimensional sphere and who offers to take her out of her plane world and show her how the universe really is! This is the concept behind Flatland.Part satire on the class structure of Victorian Britain, part teaching aid for teaching euclidian space, this is a classic book, aimed at children, but powerful and thought provoking enough for adults.Its a very slim volume, but the content and its ideas will sit with you for a very long time. ( )

A fascinating allegory on Victorian society told with two and three dimensional geographical figures. Even though written in the late 19th century, aspects of the story about people's sometimes limited world views are still relevant today and the moralities of the book shouldn't be lightly dismissed. At only 80 pages it is a quick read which you shouldn't miss. ( )

I started reading this book thinking that I was just going to get a quick humorous read on geometry. I didn't expect a short story told from the point of view of a square in a plane to hold so many interesting questions ranging in subject: from metaphysics and religion to discrimination.

This short book is definitely worth reading. ( )

At first glance, Flatland is about geometry and dimensions. But upon closer reading, we see that it is a commentary on discrimination and close-mindedness. It mocks religious close-mindedness as well as Victorian ideals of science and mathematics. It mocks class discrimination and gender discrimination.

The first portion of Flatland seemed slow to me: Square was telling about his society and explaining the history of his two-dimensional land. The second half of the story was much more interesting, for a sphere visited him. How does a sphere prove a third dimension to a person living only in the second dimension?

In the end, however, Flatland was a fascinating look at how I am limited in my understanding because I am only three-dimensional. I also am close-minded because of those limits.

More detailed review on my blog

Highly recommended

My favorite part of this is when the person trying to "expand" someone's mind gets pissed when their own mind doesn't want to expand. ( )

Not even one month into the new year, and I'm throwing in the towel on a book. It's only 80 pages long, and I have struggled to get through 14 pages. I'm trying to excuse things by telling myself this is meant to be a satire, but the description of the females in Flatland is offensive - stupid, can't hold a thought in their heads, and because of how they are made they can't help how they act. To explain that, I'll give a little information regarding the denizens of Flatland: isosceles triangles are the lowest class, equilateral triangles next step on the social ladder, squares one more step up, etc... basically the more sides you have, the higher class you are. And in this lovely social structure, females are lines. And to explain the whole thing where females can't help how they act because of how they are made - in a two-dimensional world such as Flatland, depending on how you view a female, she is either visible as a line, or a single point. So, if you irritate a female and she goes off into a tizzy, she could inadvertently kill you with that point, but she's so stupid and has such a poor memory that a few minutes later she won't remember what happened. Aaarrrggghhhhhhh......

I'll hold onto this book for the time-being, but I really doubt I will ever finish reading it.

This book was given an overview in a silly book from the 1960s which my father once gave to me-- it was a book of math puzzles and the like. That book, however, did not hint to me that Flatland is really more of a Victorian social commentary than a book about math. I enjoy creative books about math, like 'The Math Devil'. The Math Devil is one fine book.

Anyway, Flatland is interesting, yes, but-- well-- it's Victorian social commentary! Not something I enjoy reading for the sake of itself. Victorian social commentary is fine when there's an interesting plot to be had, but using MATH to make Victorian social commentary more interesting? Hmm. Not exactly the best decision. But it's still good, and it's very easy to see why this is a classic. Everyone should get around to reading it at least once-- and it's so short that this shouldn't be a problem for anyone, really. ( )

Interesting novella, a sort of mixture of science fiction/social commentary and a Dummy's guide to dimensions and relativity.
Very , very clever. ( )

Imagine beings living out their existences in a two-dimensional world, unable to conceive of a third dimension. Now ask yourself whether your ideas about your three dimensions have any solider ground to stand on. ( )

I had such high hopes for this book. I figured any speculative fiction that stood the test of time so well must be something really special. Instead, I got porn for math geeks. The whole first half of the book, a description of the inhabitants of Flatland, might have been more interesting if the details were revealed through narrative, but the explanations and diagrams would make a good cure for insomnia. The second half was more interesting, and indeed the last bits were exciting. But the cost to get there was too much. ( )

This short work is rooted in the English tradition of political dissent and social commentary through satire (see, for example, Swift). In this book, Abbott describes a two-dimensional world in which various shapes exist, living their two-dimensional lives. The status of a shape is determined by how many sides it has - the more sides, the more important a shape is. Females, who are simply straight lines, are of lowest status. Slightly higher than females are triangles, the lowest status male. As shapes get progressively more sides, they are also supposed to get progressively smarter and thus, those with 50 or 100 sides are the elite, and rule the others. Oddly, those with fewest sides (and thus sharp points) are the most lethal - to such an extent that houses are constructed so that females have their own door to enter and females are required to waggle back and forth and cry out to warn others of their approach (so they don't puncture anyone else with their sharp point).

The book is a satire of class politics, gender, and social status in 19th century England. While it makes numerous insightful points, the weakness of the work is that its social commentary is so very heavy-handed. It is so blunt that it overwhelms any kind of story at times, and so obvious that it mutes its own effectiveness with a kind of shrillness. A little more subtlety would have made this work much more effective. ( )

A delightful description of life in a 2-dimensional world (Flatland) as told by A. Square, and his experiences of other dimensions - Lineland (1-d), Pointland (0-d), and Spaceland (3-d).

Amazingly, this was written over 120 years ago, in 1884, by Edwin A Abbott - a schoolmaster, not of mathematics, but classics with interests in theology and literature - and yet the language and ideas (with the exception of his apparent opinion of women) have withstood the test of time. ( )

Set in a two-dimensional world that could be represented on a large sheet of paper, we meet A. Square, a free thinker in a land ruled by oppressive religious zealots who will hear nothing other than "the world is flat."

One day, however, Square meets Sphere, and is bumped out of Flatland and sent on a multidimensional journey.

If you've ever been interested in the mathematical concept of dimensions, and want any reason to believe that the fourth dimension is not time, per se, I suggest you read this book, as it will open your eyes to a whole new perspective by likening yourself to Square. ( )

9.5

This is a short easy read, but within this simple work are ideas that are almost beyond our comprehension. A majority of this story takes place in a 2D world, but there is so much explanation as to how everything works in this world that you feel as if you are in this world. Putting yourself in a smaller dimension the 3 Dimensional world seems impossible, but we know its there. Therefore it makes you think...are there more dimensions? ( )