A Good Book for Looking at the World Differently

books:


	• Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Dover Thrift Editions) Edwin A. Abbott Dover Publications, 1992 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 154 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A book of its time.

This book was written in an attempt to prepare the minds of the Victorians to the concept of a fourth dimension, as a side story it is a commentary on the sexist and stratified society in which the clergyman, mathematician and head master Mr. Abbott found himself in. Abbott draws our attention to the lowly status of the "irregulars", triangles and in particular female "lines" not because he agrees with their plight but to highlight the inequity and absurdity that the majority can be lorded over by the minority. But I digress. The main story is about enlightening a people accustomed to 2 or 3 dimensions to the prospect of 3 or 4 dimensions respectively. I only gave it three stars as I dislike the first half of the book in that it doesn't have a coherent story - rather a series of chapters each on a different area of 2D society. A story is developed in the second half of the book and this is where it really picked up for me. While I would have liked to know how lines "give birth" to polygons I understand that this is a minor technicality and the concept is still sound without that detail being included.

A note to teachers: Don't set this as required reading, your students won't like it, they already know all about the 3D world and the 4D concept isn't alien to them like it was to the Victorian society it was written for. Instead read them Planiverse by A.K. Dewdney it will blow their minds.

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A Good Book for Looking at the World Differently

This book at first is very dense. But once you get used to the writing style it becomes a great tool for thinking about perception. I especially like the section on shading and how that can determine what it is you are looking at. It is a short book but it does take a little a time to get through. Overall, it is a very good book.

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A classic

I have read this book at least a dozen times. It's a must read for anyone, a satire of many dimensions. While the aspects of dimensionality apply to the math geeks, the pun on straight-laced Victorian society actually mirrors many of the things we face in our society today, but with a different twist. This is a great way for a lay person to understand the concept of dimensionality. If you like this book, I also highly recommend reading Rudy Rucker's Spaceland and Ian Stewart's Flatterland. Both are great sequels to this original classic and absolutely hilarious!

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Sends the imagination soaring

I have just finished reading this little book for probably the third time. As I tend to read in bed at night just before turning out the light to go to sleep, I would lie in bed after putting the book down trying to imagine the fourth dimension. The spiritual implications throughout the book are undeniable. Once one has been touched by a higher dimension, life will never be the same. However, trying to communicate to others what one has experienced proves near impossible, as our square friend in Flatland so aptly relates.

Everything A OK!

This book has to be read by every mathematician and why not everyone! It can help you get a better view of higher dimension, in a very strict mathematical way, without having difficult terms. It is also a deep book with implications even to relegion and the way we see the world! Plus the whole story is very funny! As for the transaction it was excellent. The book came to me within the appropriate dates.

Great book great exchange!

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