Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

by Edwin A. Abbott, Kevin Stone (Illustrator)

Overview

One of the greatest science fiction books ever written; Flatland is now available with new illustrations from brilliant illustrator Kevin Stone. Follow the Flatland narrator as he discovers new lands, people and dimensions in a witty and inspiring fantasy. Not only an insightful introduction to the fourth dimension or a biting satire of Victorian England, Flatland is an unforgettable reminder of how imagination can transcend material reality, politics and ignorance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781891053542
Publisher:	Garrett County Press
Publication date:	11/02/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	90
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926) was educated at the City
of London School and at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he
was senior classics fellow and a college fellow. After ordination
and marriage he was appointed, when only twenty-six, to head
his old school, which he served from 1865 to 1889, becoming
one of the most celebrated headmasters of his age. A teacher of
genius, he inspired a procession of able pupils who were to make
their mark in a wide range of subjects and professions; the most
notable was probably H. H. Asquith, who became Prime Minister
in 1908. Under Abbott the school pioneered the teaching of such
subjects as comparative philology, chemistry and English literature.
Besides teaching, Abbott’s vocation lay in writing, which he retired
at fifty in order to pursue, publishing works on Shakespeare and
Bacon as well as a number of both scholarly and speculative books
representing liberal views in matters of religious belief which were
well in advance of the great majority of his contemporaries.

Kevin Stone attended Pratt Institute, where he graduated with honors. He is the author of the comic series Old Soldiers and several other books. He lives in Florida.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second and Revised Edition ix

Introduction xiii

Part I This World

Section

1 Of the Nature of Flatland 3

2 Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland 4

3 Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland 6

4 Concerning the Women 8

5 Of our Methods of Recognizing one another 12

6 Of Recognition by Sight 16

7 Concerning Irregular Figures 20

8 Of the Ancient Practice of Painting 22

9 Of the Universal Colour Bill 24

10 Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition 27

11 Concerning our Priests 30

12 Of the Doctrine of our Priests 32

Part II Other Worlds

13 How I had a Vision of Lineland 39

14 How in my Vision I endeavoured to explain the nature of Flatland, but could not 42

15 Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland 46

16 How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland 49

17 How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds 55

18 How I came to Spaceland and what I saw there 57

19 How, though the Sphere showed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it 61

20 How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision 66

21 How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandson, and with what success 68

22 How I then tried to diff use the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and the result 70

Editorial Reviews

This pre-Einstein geometrical fantasy is one of the best things of its kind that has ever been written, for it is more than an ingeniously sustained fantasy: it is a social satire, with wit as sharp as the sub-lutrous end of a Flatland woman; it is an easy philosophical introduction to the Fourth Dimension; and it is a rebuke to everyone who holds that there is no reality beyond what is perceptible by human senses.

Saturday Review

"One of the most imaginative, delightful and, yes, touching works of mathematics, this slender 1884 book purports to be the memoir of A. Square, a citizen of an entirely two-dimensional world."--The Washington Post Book World

"Flatland has remained of interest for over a century precisely because of its ability to engage its readers on so many different planes in so many different dimensions."--Victorian Studies

"This reprint of Abbott's Flatland adventures contains an Introduction by Thomas Banchoff which is worth reading on its own. So if you don't have yet this book at home, go ahead and buy this edition."--Zentralblatt MATH

From the Publisher

This reprint of Abbott's Flatland adventures contains an Introduction by Thomas Banchoff which is worth reading on its own. So if you don't have yet this book at home, go ahead and buy this edition.

Zentralblatt MATH Database

Flatland has remained of interest for over a century precisely because of its ability to engage its readers on so many different planes in so many different dimensions.

Victorian Studies

One of the most imaginative, delightful and, yes, touching works of mathematics, this slender 1884 book purports to be the memoir of A. Square, a citizen of an entirely two-dimensional world.

The Washington Post Book World

This reprint of Abbott's Flatland adventures contains an Introduction by Thomas Banchoff which is worth reading on its own. So if you don't have yet this book at home, go ahead and buy this edition.

Zentralblatt MATH