Flatland: A Romance of Many DimensionsThis highly original and entertaining short novel (which has been in print continually since its original publication in 1884) tells the story of A. Square, an inhabitant of the two-dimensional world Flatland. After an overview of Flatland society in all its aspects, A. Square recounts how he was led on a series of visions and travels to Pointland, Lineland, and Spaceland by A. Sphere on the last day of Flatland's year 1999. Through his encounters with these other lands, A. Square realizes that there is indeed more to the universe than the world he lives in. A. Sphere opens A. Square's mind to new possibilities, illuminating the path to knowledge through careful observation and commonsense experimentation. But when A. Square can be contented no longer with what he has already seen, he dreams of visiting a land of four dimensions, the so-called Thoughtland. As in real life, such desires are met with sometimes-violent opposition from society's leaders in the name of maintaining the status quo. Victorian clergyman and Shakespearean scholar Edwin Abbott penned this mathematical allegory about the dawn of reason seemingly in response to the puritanical environment of his era. Touching on themes of humanity's insatiable quest for truth, authority's tendency to squash radical ideas born from this quest, and the necessity of curiosity, Flatland is an odd and charming little book whose impact far surpasses its concise prose. |
Contents
Of Recognition by Sight | 39 |
Concerning Irregular Figures | 46 |
Of the Universal Colour Bill | 53 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
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Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Complete with Illustrations) Edwin A. Abbott No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
according to Analogy angles appear Art of Sight ascer Behold cern Chief Circle Chromatistes Circular Colour Revolt Contralto countrymen course cried Cube cut-throat dimness distinguish Dodecagon door dream Equilateral Equilateral Triangle exclaimed existence extremities feel Female Figure Flatland Fourth Dimension Geometrical Progression Gospel of Three Grandson half hearing Hexagon higher classes household hundred sides infer inside Irregular Isosceles King Land of Three Law of Nature length Lineland listen look Lord Lordship Male marriage mean Monarch motion mouth moving mysteries Northward once Pentagon perfect perfect Circle Perimeter Plane Pointland Polygon Priests recognize Regular replied Sappho SEDITION sense of sight shew sides equal Sight Recognition Soldier Space speak Sphere Square Straight Line Stranger suppose tablets tagon Third Dimension thou thought Three Dimensions three inches tion Tradesman truth Upward utterance vanished voice Wentbridge whole Wife Woman Women words