Flatland : A Romance of Many Dimensions

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Summary: Wonderful, thought-provoking material.
Review: I am 17, and I thought that these books opened doors to a new way of thinking for me. It is very likely that anyone who didn't like these books simply did not understand them. Yes, the language was very wordy compared to modern literature, but no more difficult to understand than *Sherlock Homes* or Charles Dickens. I recomend this book to anyone who is scared of physics or simply wants too expand their mind.

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Summary: land of 2 dimensions is all there is in their world or is it
Review: Flatland the book is about many intelligent geometrical creatures who think 2 dimensions is all there is until one day a square starts thinking otherwise. Learn what is would be like to live in 2 dimensions and try to fill in the holes

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Summary: Worst book I ever read.
Review: Worst book ever written. Not worth 80 cents

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Summary: A great intro. to dimensionality and speculative fiction.
Review: This classic short novel is centered about intelligent beings that live in only two dimensions. One of the inhabitants, Mr. Square, describes his world and visits a one-dimensional world. He later encounters beings from the third dimension. Mr. Square finally considers even higher dimensions. This tale by Edwin A. Abbott (1839-1926), an English clergyman and academic, has become quite popular with those physicists and mathematicians who study higher dimensions. It is also regarded as a classic in the development of speculative fiction. I really enjoyed reading it. I've had a copy on my shelf for over forty years and I have never met a Ph.D. in physics (or math for that matter) who has not read it. Any student of the development of science fiction should also have a copy.

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Summary: Great Primer
Review: This story is a great primer for people who are interested in Theoretical Physics/Relativity. the story is superficial, the language is thick and inefficent (by today's standards), but it's a charming book. It's easy and quick and a nice title to have under one's belt. If nothing else, it's entertaining.

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Summary: A great biblical analogy for Christ's existence in our world
Review: Jesus' time in our world could be compared to the flatland story. What he was able to do in terms of miracles could be compared to what "A Sphere" was able to do in flatland. It makes a great story and an excellent analogy for understanding God and Christ for a mathematical mind.

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Summary: These stories could be the begining of a journey of thought.
Review: I am only 17 and I read both of these books and understood every word of it. Not to say that the things covered in these two books are easy to see or comprehend but the authors did such a beautiful job of making everything easy to understand from life in the 2nd dimention to slightly grasping the 4th dimention through mathmatics and to flipping 3 dimentional objects in the 4th dimention thus reversing them like turning a left shoe into a right shoe. Even if you are not interested in math or science these books let you see the world in another way and will stay with you provoking thought at every turn.

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Summary: This book first intrigued me in 1972. Still does!
Review: You won't believe this book was written in the late 1800s----nor that the author was a mathematician. A copy of Flatland was in my mailbox awaiting my return to the "real world" (i.e. Flatland San Jose) after a P.A.C.E. Seminar I attended in Carmel in 1972. It caused me to do a lot of thinking, visualizing and reading over the following years. However, one of the unanticipated benefits for some readers is the fact that Flatland can help one easily visual some aspects of math. [BUT, I do think you have to be in the right mood, space and timeframe when you read it. It would be easy to put this book down for some of the reasons already discussed in other reviews.]

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Summary: A great read
Review: This book introduced me to the amazingly interesting possibilaty of a fourth dimension, or even an infinite number of dimensions, and the way the material was presented (by a story of A Square and A Hexoagon and there adventures with a sphere) is delightfully entertaining. Since the human mind has such a horrid time visualizing the fourth dimension, taking it down one level by having creatures living in a two dimensional world who try to understand the third dimension is an excellent way to help people grasp the possibility of higher dimensions. I was also very interested in the books discussion about a curved space and an expanding universe. This book is great for any teenager interested in theoretic sciences and geometery and it is a great intellectual read.

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Summary: This book is great!
Review: Anyone who's ever wondered what it might be like to live in four diminions, or two, or what zero diminsions means should read this book. By giving detailed descriptions of life in two diminsions, Abott opens your imagination to what life in four or five diminsions might be. It's cool stuff <grin>!