Rating: 
Summary: It will stretch your imagination
Review: I just finished reading "Flatland" by Edwin A. Abbott and I'm not entirely sure what to think. While this book challenges the imagination of the reader with the possibilities of any number of dimensions, I found the language of the book a bit harder to wade through. While only around 100 pages, I feel it took me a longer time to read it than a longer, modern fiction, as the language is a bit older, complete with whence, thou shalts, and so forth.However, I still think this is a worthwhile read, as the ideas are still applicable, especially with modern physics and with string theory claiming that more dimensions do indeed exist. I encourage you to pick it up if you're at all interested in mathematical curiousities and having your knowledge of 3 dimensions pulled and twisted a bit. Also, the social structure of a two-dimensional society is extremely interesting. The first part of the book describes the world of Flatland, a world restricted to two dimensions and the society contained therein. In this world, each human is a shape, and irregularity is highly condemned. Women are straight lines and the highest class of society is filled with circles, or many sided polygons. Our author is a square, who describes to us the ways of life in Flatland, from how to recognize each other (as every shape would appear as a straight line seen edge-on), to how the laws of nature grant that successive generations may gain a side, thus rising on the social ladder. Also, he tells of the history of Flatland, during the trying times of the "Universal Colour Bill" and the "Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition." In the latter part of the book, our square friend tells us of his vision of Lineland, whose inhabitants are confined to one dimension. Sadly, he cannot convince the Lineland monarch of the existance of another dimension. The next day, however, he is visited by a sphere from Spaceland. Through much demonstration and persuasion, the Sphere finally convinces the square of the existence of a third dimension, by bringing him into it. Sadly, after the sphere departs, and the square is again restricted by Flatland, he is unable to convince his Flatland companions of this miraculous third dimension. He is sentenced to a life in prison, taunted by a knowledge of an extra spatial dimension, yet forbidden by his two-dimensional world from ever entering it again.
Rating: 
Summary: The book that started it all for higher dimensional analysis
Review: Flatland is THE must-read for anyone interested in getting a feel for higher dimensions. The book is extraordinarily readable and succeeds even with people that are afraid of mathematics. Abbott's charm lies in his ability to write simply and clearly about a topic that has its share of very unreachable, esoteric books. You fall into the story (whose plot is by no means secondary to the mathematical ideas), and before you know it you find yourself in contemplation of things like the fourth and fifth dimensions. The visual image that this book provides is a necessary step to envisioning and then understanding the idea of higher dimensions, even for those already versed in the mathematics of it. You never know, after you read this, you might even be willing to try your hand at things like Einstein's relativity. A little on the social aspects of the book: keep in mind that it was written in the very late 1800's. Hidden within the philosophical and mathematical ideas is a satire of the social climate of the times: how women, the military, the upper echelons of society, and just about everyone else were viewed. Flatland makes you think, and think deeply, on many different and sometimes unexpected levels.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: This may be the greatest science fiction story of all time. I have read this story at least ten times and I never tire of it. An all time classic that makes a wonderful conversation topic.
Rating:
Summary: Mind bender anyone?
Review: Although it isn't very long, Flatland does take a long time to read. This isn't because it is boring, or because it is hard to read, but because of the large amount of digestion one need's to fully comprehend (and to fully enjoy) this book. Even this book contains only 82 pages, it is by no means light reading. The book was originally released in 1884 under Abbott's pseudonym A Square. In the story we follow the journey of a square who lives in a land of two dimensions--a flat land. In it class, and ultimately intelligence, is determined by the amount of sides that a shape has. As the amount of sides a shape has decreases, we find that it also is more emotional and apt to cause destruction through their pointed corners. Women are depicted as straight lines, but one has to take into account the time that this book was published. One can also disregard the story as having any relations to anything in our society and enjoy it for what it is, a mind bending social criticism. In this tale we follow the aforementioned square through his everyday life. we learn what it is like to exist in only two dimensions. We learn of how rain falls form the north and disappears to the south and how gravity is a minute force that pulls to the south ever so slightly. We follow him through the government and through social classes, and the discrimination that comes with them. When his son talks of geometric impossibilities such as 23 (cubed) he has a dream of a lesser land than his, a land called line land. IN it there is not two but only one dimension of being. Through discussion with the kind of lineland, we are offered insight into why our hero the square cannot conceive of the third dimension. Later our hero is visited by a great being, a sphere that appears to him seemingly out of nowhere. This confuses the square very much, and even more when the sphere tries to explain how he passed into his dimension from the third. After heated debate, the sphere takes him and shows him the third dimension, turning our hero into an evolved form of him self, a cube. Form his higher vantage point the square is able to see the innards of those who reside in flatland. He receives tutoring from the sphere about this new dimension and all that it entails. He learns of how limited the field of vision is for those living in flatland, both literally and figuratively. With his previous limits of reality stripped and with his eye opened to the truth, the square quickly follows logic and asks to see the insides of the sphere, and wishes to ascend further into greater dimensions, fourth dimensions and fifth and onward and upward. The sphere is appalled by this heresy and send our hero back to the limited realm of flatland. Here he tries to convince others to be enlightened, but cannot find success. He has a second dream involving the dimension of pointland, no dimensions. The being inhabiting this land is of nothing and knows nothing but itself, which is nothing. There fore this being cannot be disappointed by anything, because it cannot conceive of anything other than itself. We can see the religious parallels to Hinduism and Buddhism here. The completely content creature is of nothingness, much like the state that Buddhists try to achieve, and the outward ranking by dimension not sides can be seen in Hinduism in the spiral path towards God that the Hindu believe they travel along passing from one point on the spiral to another with each passing life. In this land of math all of the lands are contained within each other, much like the rings of the spiral. Finally after this dream the square realizes the futility of trying to convince others through speech, and he feels he must do it through demonstration. Folks hear of his heresy and bring him to the court for the climax of the book. Whether or not the plot of the novel itself is very entertaining, the ability to get your head around concepts that can only be experienced through the mind is challenged thoroughly by this novel. It is a must read for anyone who thinks that they are well educated, as it will quickly tell you just where you stand, theologically, philosophically and mathematically.
Rating: 
Summary: God as the infinitely-dimensional
Review: Flatland is one of those pseudo-scientific novels that has since become a piece of the scientific canon in the same way that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has; when attempting to explain theoretical physics to a class, and at a dead-end, a professor is most liekly to turn to an analogy from Flatland. Which makes sense. Flatland is the story of A. Square, a resident of the two-dimensional Flatland, and how he comes to understand that there are universes in every dimension. Previous to this, the idea of any universe but his own two-dimensional universe was unthinkable; by the end of the novel, he is positing the existence of a great, infinitely-dimensional being-- god. This is not surprising; Edwin Abbott was a theologist first and foremost. What is surprising is how modern eyes have seen this tale, and it gives us a perspective on the endless debate as to whether the author's belief about his story is the final and "right" one. Abbott meant his book as a treatise on theoretical physics-- if at all-- in only a minor way. According to Abbott himself, his main goal in the writing of Flatland was to produce a kind of "satire of manners" on Victorian England. And, given what little I know of the ways of life in Victorian England, he seems to be right on the money. But what do I know? Abbott's assertion is backed up by the structure of the novel, certainly; the first hundred pages of this small (hundred fifty page) tome are devoted to the customs and mores of Flatland. How stinging a criticism they are of the values and mores of Victorian England is not for me to say. Thus, those of us who are not historians are left with the final fifty pages, and the impact of the first hundred pages upon them (which, aside form the knowledge gained therein, is minimal); and, at least as far as the physicists go, the book has metamorphosed into a trestise on theoretical physics. I'm not a theoretical physicist, either, but I've always been interested in mathematics in a sort of hobbylike way, and the math presented in Flatland is good, solid theory that also happens to be thought-provoking. Seeing how A. Square's realization of how the third dimension works dawns on him, and seeing how Lord Sphere explains the mechanics of the third dimension to A. Square, it is easy to take those arguments and make them to postulate a theoretical fourth dimension (albeit one that is impossible to visualize, at least within the narrow scope of my mathematical knowledge) and its supercubes with sixteen points and eight faces, and the like. The point is, however, we seem to have taken a minor part of the book's appeal to its original audience and made that its full appeal today. We still think it's good (or it wouldn't still be in print a hundred sixteen years after its release, no?), but we think different aspects of it are good. The opinions of the artist have passed on, and the work itself remains in a different perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Expand your mind!
Review: Flatland is a great book for those who have the ability to think in an abstract way. If you appreciate mathematical puzzles, physics, or programming, you'll probably love Flatland. Although I liked it, I expect Flatland would be more popular among men than women. The book is relatively short and an easy read. It doesn't have much of a plot; instead, the narrator spends time explaining the nature of a two-dimensional universe, and compares it to three-dimensional "Spaceland". The book opens your mind - if two-dimensional characters can't see or imagine a three-dimensional universe, who is to say we can't see or imagine a four- or five-dimensional one?
Rating:
Summary: A quite curious book
Review: I bought this book on a whim because it was so cheap, and I rather enjoyed it, despite it being a very short book. At the minute, it is circulating among my friends. The first part deals with the social structure and mores of the flatland society. I've heard that it's a critique of the way life was set up when the book was written, but I can't confirm that. It describes a world where women are seen as worthless nobodies who are dangerous without really noticing, and where people are judged and placed in social classes based merely on their appearance (more specifically, how many sides they have). The second part is why you should buy this book. It is the tale of what happens when one of the members of this two-dimensional society is taken and shown how life is lived in worlds of one, zero, and three dimensions. It is this part of the book which is absolutely fascinating, and convinced me that I will never be able to envision a fourth spatial dimension. I highly recommend this book as a singular novelty, and a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: A valuable read culturally, but a literary mediocrity
Review: Sometimes you look at a book and shake your head. From what I've heard, they did that when this book came out in the late 19th century. This book isn't science fiction in the classical sense; compared to A. K. Dewdney's Planiverse, the science in it is actually quite bad. It's more valuable as a cultural benchmark describing the class strictures of Victorian Britain in an unusual setting than anything else. Its overriding message of being open to different thinking, while admirable, is lost in the portrayal of a society whose strictures are not merely cultural but biological, rendering the point of the book somewhat vague at best. It's interesting, yes. For the price of a Dover Thrift Classic edition, it's worth getting. But it's heavy-handed and lacking in any real sense of wonder such as you'd expect from a Jules Verne or Arthur Conan Doyle.
Rating:
Summary: It will stretch your imagination
Review: I just finished reading "Flatland" by Edwin A. Abbott and I'm not entirely sure what to think. While this book challenges the imagination of the reader with the possibilities of any number of dimensions, I found the language of the book a bit harder to wade through. While only around 100 pages, I feel it took me a longer time to read it than a longer, modern fiction, as the language is a bit older, complete with whence, thou shalts, and so forth. However, I still think this is a worthwhile read, as the ideas are still applicable, especially with modern physics and with string theory claiming that more dimensions do indeed exist. I encourage you to pick it up if you're at all interested in mathematical curiousities and having your knowledge of 3 dimensions pulled and twisted a bit. Also, the social structure of a two-dimensional society is extremely interesting. The first part of the book describes the world of Flatland, a world restricted to two dimensions and the society contained therein. In this world, each human is a shape, and irregularity is highly condemned. Women are straight lines and the highest class of society is filled with circles, or many sided polygons. Our author is a square, who describes to us the ways of life in Flatland, from how to recognize each other (as every shape would appear as a straight line seen edge-on), to how the laws of nature grant that successive generations may gain a side, thus rising on the social ladder. Also, he tells of the history of Flatland, during the trying times of the "Universal Colour Bill" and the "Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition." In the latter part of the book, our square friend tells us of his vision of Lineland, whose inhabitants are confined to one dimension. Sadly, he cannot convince the Lineland monarch of the existance of another dimension. The next day, however, he is visited by a sphere from Spaceland. Through much demonstration and persuasion, the Sphere finally convinces the square of the existence of a third dimension, by bringing him into it. Sadly, after the sphere departs, and the square is again restricted by Flatland, he is unable to convince his Flatland companions of this miraculous third dimension. He is sentenced to a life in prison, taunted by a knowledge of an extra spatial dimension, yet forbidden by his two-dimensional world from ever entering it again.
Rating:
Summary: "Something-which-you-do-not-as-yet-know"
Review: Do not miscast this wonderful little book as being merely "sci-fi". Two-dimensional "worlds" exist within ours, if only in a somewhat pragmatic sense. If we imagine some "thing" intellective within such a world, then we have little difficulty seeing that our humble narrator, Mr. A. Square, might be such a world's most insightful oddball. The book is a classic exposition in basic geometry, but it is more than this. Abbott uses mathematics to make some very telling observations about human minds and psychologies.
Edwin Abbott (1838-1926) was a clergyman and a math geek. He was an educator, an expositor of English literature and New Testament studies, a notable headmaster, and the author of something like 40 books on widely varied themes. Today you will probably have a difficult time finding any of his other volumes, but Flatland is said to have never been out of print since it was first published in 1884.
No need to retell A. Square's big adventures here, other than this bit of dialog between our two-dimensional thinker and his three-dimensional visitor/teacher (Square is given to thoughts of still higher-dimensional worlds): "SPHERE. But where is this land of Four Dimensions?
[A. Square]. I know not: but doubtless my Teacher knows.
SPHERE. Not I. There is no such land. The very idea of it is utterly inconceivable." Abbott offers his allegory of physical and conceptual limits with an economy of word and thought that is nothing less than extraordinary. A great many volumes, five to ten times as large, conclude having said far less than this little parable. Read it. You will take from it what you are willing to take. If you find little or nothing here, you are indeed a citizen of Flatland.
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