Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Penguin, 1984 - Fourth dimension - 160 pages

Classic of science (and mathematical) fiction -- charmingly illustrated by the author -- describes the adventures of A. Square, a resident of Flatland, in Spaceland (three dimensions), Lineland (one dimension) and Pointland (no dimensions).

What people are saying

Review: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

User Review  - Jamie - Goodreads

I read this a long time ago for a class I was taking. Interesting way to describe different dimensions. Amazingly it has come up in conversations from time to time throughout my life. I consider it one of the classics for math/science writing.

Review: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

User Review  - Steve - Goodreads

Flatland. What a novel. I understand the references to Victorian society, but holy hell. This is one of the most sexist stories I've ever read. Women are pointed line segments to be avoided because ...

About the author

Edwin A. Abbott was born December 20, 1838. He attended City of London School and Cambridge, where he was an honor student in the classics. Following the career path of his father, Abbott was ordained an Anglican minister. Later he rejected a career as a clergyman and at the age of twenty-six, he returned to City of London School as Headmaster, a position he held for twenty-five years. Always curious about views from varying perspectives, he promoted a liberal attitude toward people of differing backgrounds. As president of the Teachers Training Society, for example, he lobbied for access to university education for women. He resigned as Headmaster at age fifty-three in protest of proposed changes to the mission of the school. Abbott wrote more than fifty books on widely different topics. He had published two series of his sermons while at Cambridge, a book on Shakespearean grammar, and accounts of his efforts to admit women to higher education. His most notable work is Flatland, written in 1884. Flatland is still widely read by both mathematicians and science-fiction readers because of its portrayal of the idea of higher dimensions. The narrator, a two-dimensional square called A Square happens into a three-dimensional world where he gains a wider vision into objects in his two-dimensional home. The book was a favorite with C. S. Lewis. Abbott died on October 12, 1926.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions; Classic science fiction; Penguin science fiction; Signet classics
• Illustrated by: Edwin A. Abbott
• Edition: illustrated, reissue
• Publisher: Penguin, 1984
• ISBN: 0451522907, 9780451522900
• Length: 160 pages