Rating: 
Summary: Bride of Flatland
Review: "Flatterland" is billed as the sequel to the book "Flatland" and like most Hollywood sequels, "Flatterland" doesn't measure up to the original. On the subjects that I do know something about (e.g. Doppler shifts) there are minor technical errors, but not of any significance. However, in my opinion, the book fails because it is too much like a Hollywood production. In an attempt to appease everyone, the book performs a "Dante like tour" (the book's author's words, not mine) of the huge realm of mathematics and beyond while not attempting to explain anything in any detail. To my mind this attempt at "drive by learning" simply does not work. The book would be better served by addressing fewer subjects at a slightly more detailed level. Also, (like a Hollywood production) I could have done without the author interjecting his political views throughout the book.
Rating: 
Summary: A very thought-provoking book
Review: "Flatterland" is a very thought-provoking book by Ian Stewart. It is the sequel to "Flatland". I would call it a mathematical fiction book. It is about a girl from Flatland, a 2D world. She is called Victoria Line (all women on Flatland are lines). She goes on a journey through many different dimensions and universes with a being called the Space Hopper. She learns much about math on the way.
One of my favorite universes was Platterland, a 2D hyperbolic universe. While in Platterland she learns many things about hyperbolic geometry, including that straight lines appear to be curved, squares can have five sides and five right angles, and things shrink as they get closer to the edge of the universe!
Another one of my favorite universes was Topologica, a 3D topologic universe. While there Victoria learns about topology and how two-holed doughnuts can turn into coffee cups! She also meets Moobius, a cow shaped like a Möbius strip (a 2D shape with only one side), who gives milk in Klein bottles! Klein bottles are bottles in which the top curves around and goes back into the bottle!
Throughout the book there are many funny puns, right down to the name of the main character. Victoria Line is a subway line in London! The puns go very deep. One pun is about two people called Twindledum and Twindledumber. They are named after Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass"! Another character is called the Hawk King, named after Stephen William Hawking!
I really enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes math and knows a little bit about it or just enjoys reading funny books! It helps if you have read "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Many of the puns come from them. This book is definitely not for young kids though, some parts were way over my head. All in all, I understood most of it-and it was great!
Rating:
Summary: Not recommended for light reading
Review: "Flatterland" would have been a fairly good read had it not been for the heavy-handed treatment of mathematics. That's saying a lot considering I was a physics/astronomy major in college. Don't get into this book unless you intend to spend some time with it.
Rating: 
Summary: should have handed his ideas to a better writer
Review: A strange book. Chock full of interesting information but hard to read.
After reading, rereading much of the book, my feeling is this book needs an editor. Oh after one fights the poor puns, the `creative' spellings and the curse of an author who seems to want the reader to discover everything the author knows ... and do it `right now' ... the information's all there if ones willing to use `nitogyrcin' to free it up.
Rating: 
Summary: ¿Is there an editor in the house¿
Review: A strange book. Chock full of interesting information but hard to read.
After reading, rereading much of the book, my feeling is this book needs an editor. Oh after one fights the poor puns, the 'creative' spellings and the curse of an author who seems to want the reader to discover everything the author knows ... and do it 'right now' ... the information's all there if ones willing to use 'nitogyrcin' to free it up.
Rating:
Summary: Coat tails
Review: Abbott's Flatland is a work of genius. It's short, to the point and endlessly clever. I've probably reread it four or five times in my life and each time it astounds me. Flatterland is a case of "more is not better" and "cute" is not clever. Get an original idea Stewert.
Rating:
Summary: No Words to Describe It!
Review: As a high school student, I was tortured into reading this book for Math Analysis. Having previously read Flatland, I was not keen on the idea of reading the sequel. My grade-conscious self got the better of me and I started to read the book. From the first chapter I was enthralled! Ian Stewart knew how to write and keep my attention. My parents had to threaten me so I would put it down so I could eat. (Imagine: a high schooler entranced in a MATH book!) I so totally recommend this book because I would have NEVER understood Mandelblot (er... Mandelbrot) nor would I have read on to discover a plethora of new dimensions (one and a quarter). I would recommend any person, avid mathematician or high schooler, to read this. It was easily understood and Ian Stewart is a fantastic writer! Too bad they didn't have ten stars!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed - it left me flat
Review: I enjoyed Flatland and Sphereland, so I received this book as a gift. It will be for sale, in mint condition, momentarily. The second half of the book will remain unseen by me, because I simply could not bring myself to continue.Flatland was interesting and entertaining both mathematically and for its social satire. Sphereland was also interesting and entertaining. But Flatterland tries too hard. In the inroduction the author says he had the idea for explaining multiple dimensions using a similar approach to the earlier books, and then developed those ideas into this book. Sounds like a good idea, but the book lacks the wit to keep it interesting. And in some places lacks adequate explanations of concepts. I can imagine that somoene already familar with the concepts and enamored of the topic might think the author did a clever job of explaining someting that they have had difficulty explaining themselves. But, for someone who doesn't work in the field and hasn't had the challenges of explaining the concepts this book is nether fascinating nor interesting and only sometimes achieves the goal of explaining. It is mostly boring, although the introduction is interesting and explains a possible satirical reference to the origin of A. Square's name that would have probably eluded anyone not from London. On page 32 there is the assertion that a cube of side 1.06 can fit through a cube of side 1. There is an illustration to demonstrate that. The illustration is not clear and I believe it has errors in it. Unfortunately there is no information to find other sources that explain this obscure factoid. On page 72, in the chapter explaining fractals he makes the assertion that if you take one segment of a snowflake and fit together four copies you will have an area three times the size. This turns out to be an important assertion for his example, but it sure ins't obvious and there is no explanation of why that assertion might be true. But, by now these comments are probably as boring and of diminishing interest as the book itself. You and I both have better ways to spend our time.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed - it left me flat
Review: I enjoyed Flatland and Sphereland, so I received this book as a gift. It will be for sale, in mint condition, momentarily. The second half of the book will remain unseen by me, because I simply could not bring myself to continue. Flatland was interesting and entertaining both mathematically and for its social satire. Sphereland was also interesting and entertaining. But Flatterland tries too hard. In the inroduction the author says he had the idea for explaining multiple dimensions using a similar approach to the earlier books, and then developed those ideas into this book. Sounds like a good idea, but the book lacks the wit to keep it interesting. And in some places lacks adequate explanations of concepts. I can imagine that somoene already familar with the concepts and enamored of the topic might think the author did a clever job of explaining someting that they have had difficulty explaining themselves. But, for someone who doesn't work in the field and hasn't had the challenges of explaining the concepts this book is nether fascinating nor interesting and only sometimes achieves the goal of explaining. It is mostly boring, although the introduction is interesting and explains a possible satirical reference to the origin of A. Square's name that would have probably eluded anyone not from London. On page 32 there is the assertion that a cube of side 1.06 can fit through a cube of side 1. There is an illustration to demonstrate that. The illustration is not clear and I believe it has errors in it. Unfortunately there is no information to find other sources that explain this obscure factoid. On page 72, in the chapter explaining fractals he makes the assertion that if you take one segment of a snowflake and fit together four copies you will have an area three times the size. This turns out to be an important assertion for his example, but it sure ins't obvious and there is no explanation of why that assertion might be true. But, by now these comments are probably as boring and of diminishing interest as the book itself. You and I both have better ways to spend our time.
Rating:
Summary: Flatterland not Flat
Review: I have to disagree with the two other reviews. I've always had problems understanding some of the idea of modern mathematics. But after readingflatterland I get it. Flatterland puts it in an easily digestible form. Yes, some of the names (the Hawk king and Moobius, for example) are too cute for my sensibilities, but it clears up the mathematics. I found Victoria Line and the space hopper fun characters and the diagrams really helped bring the math down to my level. I rememeber the profound affect that Flatland had on me and trying to see things grow and shrink in this dimension. And not I've been equally caught up in thinking about fractals and time. Platterland was also a really mind-blowing chapter.
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