Flatland - Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland

By Edwin A. Abbott

  • Release Date: 2018-01-04
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4
4
From 18 Ratings

Description

Flatland is uniquely both a social critique and a primer on multi-dimensional geometry. Written in two parts in 1884 by Edwin Abbott, an English mathematician and theologian, it tells the story of a square living in Flatland: a two-dimensional realm. After a dream of a restrictive one-dimensional existence and the difficulties this poses, he is visited by a sphere from a three-dimensional space who wishes to enlighten him into the ways of “Upward, yet not Northward.”

Edwin Abbott wrote other theological fiction and non-fiction (including several biographies), but he is best remembered for Flatland. While it was mostly forgotten after publication, it received a revived interest from the 1960s onwards, and has more recently had several sequels and film adaptations. This edition of Flatland is based on the second published edition and includes its preface, which in part attempts to address some of the contemporary accusations of misogyny.

Reviews

  • Awesome Victorian Satire

    5
    By Elk_Moose
    This was awesome. It was mathy and geeky, but it was a pretty fun read. It has often been critiqued for being quite sexist; it was not at all. For the time it was very progressive and quite similar to Oscar Wilde’s plays in direction and intention
  • Not great

    1
    By GiuliaNYC
    A total bore. And weird, not funny or clever.

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