Rating: 
Summary: An aging classic
Review: Once a classic of imagination, but now an outdated, tedious read, it is at least short. Read it if you have to in college (if you happen to major in Computer Science or Math)
Rating: 
Summary: Existentialist fiction for math nerds
Review: Even after 110 years, Flatland is a fascinating book. We are introduced to life in Flatland -- a 2-dimensional world -- through the eyes of a scholarly square, a respectable gentleman.
He teaches us the ways of Flatland, and then takes on a mind-blowing
adventure into the third dimension and beyond. Through the Square's discovery, we expand our view of our own
world. We begin to wonder if we, the human race, are like inhabitants
of Flatland, blissfully unaware of all that we cannot see. We wonder
if we might even be as the King of Lineland, mightily ruling
our fragile Earth. We question the validity of our perceptions of
the world. Reading Flatland requires full concetration, due to Abbot's dense
prose, but the results are spectacular. Take a look at Flatland and expand the dimensionality of your universe.
Rating:
Summary: Ridiculously enjoyable. Should be illegal.
Review: Witness profundity stunningly aproportionate with length! This treatise boggles the mind with its premise, the plausbility of conceptualizing higher dimensions. With fanatical brilliance, this book elucidates on the transdimensionalism underlying spacetime, superstrings, and other theories central to modern physics. But even more, even more, it's an appealing story. If you read and loved _The Phantom Toolbooth_, or have an even passing interest in mathematics, herein will you find the sublime
Rating:
Summary: A mind expanding journey into the extra-dimensional.
Review: This charming story takes the reader on a trip through both of the two known dimensions (flatland and lineland) before breaking all the rules to discover a third dimension.
A middle class square describes his homeland, where everything is seen through two dimensional eyes.
Just when you are growing accustomed to a life of triangles, squares, pentagons, circles, and their friends, the narrating square brings you along on a dream into lineland.
The end result is a greater appreciation for forward thinkers, and a quaint reminder to "think outside the box".
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read for 4d+ philosophy
Review: This is a fascinating book -- although it is about a hundred years old, it remains an engrossing and mind-enriching tale. A character living in a 2-dimensional world explains his universe to the reader, as well as his ventures into 1D (LineLand), 0D (PointLand), and 3D (SpaceLand). He also invites the reader to ponder the fourth dimension and beyond. Excellently written, and a real mind-bender. Read it
Rating:
Summary: A Book that Introduces the Reader to Strange, New Lands
Review: =====>In order to understand this twenty-two chapter book (first published in the mid-1880s) by Edwin A. Abbot (1838 to 1926), you have to understand what is meant by the word "dimension," a word in the book's subtitle "A Romance of Many Dimensions." A dimension is any measureable distance such as length or width. So something that has one dimension has only one measurable distance, something that has two dimensions has two measurable distances, and so on. You also have to realize that there are geometrical forms that can be drawn in these dimensions. Thus a line is such a form that only has one dimension, a triangle is such a form that has two dimensions that appears flat and non-solid, and a sphere is such a form in three dimensions that appears solid. (Another name for three dimensions is space.) Part one (twelve chapters) of this book gives us a glimpse of the two-dimensional land where the narrator, Mr. "A. Square," comes from. This place, called "Flatland," is inhabitated by two-dimensional beings of which Square is one. These beings no nothing of "up" and "down." Square tells us details of Flatland society such as its resident's domestic life and its political turmoil. It is a place dominated by such things as a rigid social hierarchy, sexism, and closed-mindedness. Abbot was a Victorian and his description of Flatland is meant to be a parody (using wry humor and biting satire) of English Victorian society. Abbot seems to have fun mocking the upper classes of the 1880s in his book. I found that much of what Abbot says can be applied to modern society. As an example, Square tells us of the social hierarchy that exists: "Our women are straight lines. Our soldiers and lowest classes of workmen are Triangles with two equal sides [called an Isosceles triangle]...Our middle class consists of Equilateral or equal sided triangles...Our professional men...are Squares...and five-sided figures, or Hexagons, and thence rising in the number of their sides till they receive the honorable title of Polygonal, or many-sided...Finally when the number of sides becomes so numerous...that the figure cannot be distinguished from a Circle, he is included in the Circular or Priestly order; and this is the highest class of all." Part two (ten chapters) of this book is very interesting since Square tells us of his visits to "Lineland" (a land of one dimension), "Spaceland" (a land of three dimensions, a land Earthlings are used too), and "Pointland" (a land of no dimensions). Readers will find that they will have to adjust their thinking every time the two-dimensional Square visits a world of different dimensions. For example, when Square meets "Sphere" (of Spaceland), the reader will have to "see" Sphere as Square does--in two dimensions. The end of this part has Square realizing that three (and perhaps more) dimensions exist and trying to tell his fellow close-minded Flatlanders this. My favorite sentence in part two occurs when Sphere makes an unexpected visit to Square's home (and Square doesn't know who Sphere is, fearing that he is a burglar). Square says, "The thought flashed across me that I might have before me a burglar or cut-throat, some monstrous irregular Isoceles, who by feigning the voice of a Circle, had obtained admission somehow into the house, and was now preparing to stab me with his acute angle." Abbot, besides being a writer and educator, was also a theologian. So are their any spiritual or metaphysical aspects to this book? The answer is yes but this is not always obvious. For example, when Sphere makes his first unexpected visit to Square's home, he slowly seems to materialize in front of Square. Thus Sphere seems to be a supernatural, supreme being and Square refers to him as "your Lordship." Another example is Sphere sees Square as "a fit apostle for the Gospel of the Three Dimensions." This book is written in Victorian English that may be difficult (for some) to comprehend at first. But I found that as I progressed further into the book and got used to this type of English, it becomes much easier to comprehend. The sketches found throughout the book also help immensely in getting across what Abbot was attempting to convey. This book raises a number of questions, some of which are as follows: (1) Why does our universe have three dimensions and not two or four?
(2) In what ways does our three-dimensional universe affect its physical, chemical, and biological properties?
(3) Do universes that have two, four, five, or more dimensions exist?
(4) If other universes of different dimensions do exist, then are there beings in these other dimensions? Finally, for those who want a good non-fiction account of possible other dimensions, I recommend Dr. Michio Kaku's book "Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10TH Dimension" (1994). In conclusion, this is a unique book that sparks your imagination and raises certain questions. Be warned though! By reading this book, you may become one in "a race of rebels who...refuse to be confined to [a] limited dimensionality." <=====>
Rating:
Summary: An excellent edition of a classic - extended
Review: If you are not familiar with Edwin Abbott's "Flatland", this is the edition to buy. If you are familiar with it (but presumably do not yet own it), this is still the edition to buy. You've heard the classic criticism of a story is that it is "two dimensional". Well, Edwin Abbott's tale of an imaginary two-dimensional land adds a whole new twist to that phrase. Flatland, as he describes it, is about as rich as a two-dimensional story can be. And it is marvelously extended by its narrator's encounters with the unknown - the world of 3 dimensions. The challenges that narrator faces as he encounters the incomprehensible, quite closely mirror mine whenever I attempt to think about a 4th (or 5th or 7th) dimension. If you've faced the same struggle, you will be delighted by this book. If you've ever wondered what a 4th dimension would look like, Flatland provides a lens through which you can imagine that extension of our 3D world. From here you can go on to read Rudy Rucker or Pickover or Hawkins - but this is the place to start your exploration of dimensions beyond experience. Abbot accomplishes this by describing the eye-opening extension of his narrator's 2D world when visited by a 3D apparition, a "sphere". His framing of the foundational issues through the experiences of what you'd expect to be the least interesting character in fiction are really quite engaging. The storyline, however sparse, is as interesting as the mathematics - albeit quite nineteenth-century'ish in tone. Don't misconstrue Abbott's seemingly misogynist portrayal of women and of his class-stratified society. This element was intended to provide a third layer of sharp, Swiftian satire and critical commentary on the rigid social mores of his era. Abbot succeeds in this (but I, nevertheless, decided not to read it aloud to my 6th grade classes - worrying that they might not be attuned to this subtlety of tone.) Be forewarned. The neat twist of this edition, the inclusion of Dionys Burger's 1983 "Sphereland", as an upside-down "second book", is quite a nice touch. Although I did not find Burger's stylings quite as engaging as those of Abbott, his extension of the mathematical ideas into non-Euclidian spaces is a nice introduction to that idea for non-mathematicians. Since it was intended as a standalone book, "Sphereland" commences with a detailed review of the "Flatland" story. This can be skipped without loss but is not a substitute for reading the original "Flatland", here, first. Flatland is a timeless classic; a great book for the mathematician and non-mathematician alike.
Rating:
Summary: Aamzing book - high school freshmen literature student
Review: I started reading this book thinking it would not work well for analysis in a literature class but I was suprised. While explaining geometric concepts, it has all the elements of any other story. The book was easy and fast to read and comprehend. After finishing this book as an assignment, I quickly bought Flatterland for independant reading. I haven't found the time to start Flatterland but by the blurb on the jacket and other reviews, I am looking forward to it. I recommend this book to any high school student or slightly younger students interested in math or science. Of course, I recommend this to adults as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Flatland
Review: This book is a great reminder that what lies outside of our understanding does not necessarily lie outside the realm of possibility. You don't have to enjoy mathematics to enjoy this book - I'd recommend it to anyone!
Rating:
Summary: leaves you with self-questioning
Review: Okay honestly I felt the book was a bit drab to read through, such that, how excited can one get about little triangles & polygons, moving here & there on a two-dimensional plane? And yet, the personalities the author invokes onto these geometric figures indeed livens up the story-line substantially. And near the end things come together in not exactly a nail-biter, but somewhat of a page-turner nevertheless. I had found myself pretty emotionally invested in this little geometrical society.
What I came away with after finishing the book was a renewed sense of humility for this multi-dimensional world we live in, the multi-dimensional lives we lead. In the story, the geometrical or linear figures who insist that their world of one or two dimensions is all there is, and who scoff at the possibilities of any superceding possibilities (like a two or three-dimensional world) occasionally reminded me of my own limited view, evidenced by my pride. Today we can look back on great thinkers who shook up our complacent intellectual views of our world (Freud & Einstein are the first two which come to mind), who indeed added extra dimensions to our world, to our thought about our lives. And in a less dramatic fashion perhaps, this book caused me to think of new, undiscovered dimensions awaiting me in existing relationships, in new pursuits, career changes, etc. - through trying to see things in an entirely new way.
With that said, the book has done me good. Thank you, Mr. Abbott!
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