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Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions Dover Thrift Editions Edwin A Abbott 9780486272634 Books

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Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions Dover Thrift Editions Edwin A Abbott 9780486272634 Books

I've read Flatland several times in printed form -- it's one of my favorite books. I got this edition free, but even at that, this isn't worth it. The illustrations are missing, and for this book they're not just a nice addition; the pictures are crucial to following the story. (Also, the text makes references to the pictures.) There are also some mangled words and other problems.

If you're about to read this excellent book for the first time, you'd be robbing yourself of the experience by trying to follow this garbled, text-only version. If you're already a fan, you'll just find this edition frustrating. So, whether or not you've read Flatland before, please spend the $1 for a nice, edited version with the illustrations included: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated)


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Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions Dover Thrift Editions Edwin A Abbott 9780486272634 Books Reviews

The hardback version by Kessinger (ISBN 1169672019) is, in my opinion, horribly misrepresented in the description and a simply TERRIBLE edition. describes this edition as

"This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work."

This could not possibly be further from the truth. This edition is so horribly modern and so absolutely not a facsimile reprint of the original as to make that description laughable. None of the original artwork is present. Instead it has been replaced with someone's horrible attempt at reproducing the pictures using nothing but ASCII characters.

If you're a fan of Flatland and want a nice hardback volume for your collection, this volume is not for you. If you've never read Flatland and will be reading it for the first time (which is when the illustrations are of the most value) this volume is not for you. Unless you just want to buy a book to use as firewood, this volume is not for you.

I have never returned a book to before - but will be doing so with this one.
First published in 1884 the story within the book is about a Square living in a two-dimensional world learning about the many types of spaces. In other words the book is about learning about multiple dimensions. But it was also a way for the author, Edwin A. Abbott to talk about Victorian England, attacking sexism and the class system. But there is no Romance in the book. Unless the subtitle means it is a Scientific Romance? The archaic term for science fiction. So if you are looking for some kind of weird love story keep moving on.
I believe anybody who loves science fiction, sciences, writing, or world building who love this book. In fact they NEED to read this book. Even Carl Sagan mentioned the book in his Cosmos television series when talking about dimensions. It has also been turned into short films by different artists. Something about it is just so...cool!
Also, I noticed a few reviews complaining about the lack of drawings but my edition, the Dover Thrift Editions, does have the drawings which are referenced in the text. At about 83 pages this book could easily be finished on a rainy day, a bus ride, or during a pretty boring family reunion.
Edward A. Abbott was a 19th century theologian and schoolmaster. He published this work in 1884. Based in part on the number of reviews, it remains well-read today. I first learned about this book when I was in school, a half century ago, and regret it has taken this long to have finally read it. The work is “multidimensional” as it were. It not only pushes the reader’s imagination to envision the concept of four or five dimensions by positing a world in which people live in one dimension LESS than the 3-dimensional world in which we are most familiar with, that is a 2-dimensional world known as flatland. It also is a social satire on the social customs of the day, including hierarchical relationships, in-group / out-group fads, and the role of women in society.

Shape is destiny! The more sides one has, the better. Women, alas, aren’t even 2-diminsional. They are a simple one-dimensional line. Men are the only ones that have breadth. The simplest are isosceles triangles, low on the societal pecking order. Equilateral triangles a bit higher, squares higher still, then pentagons… and on, to ones that have so many sides they approximate a circle, who effectively are the High Priests. And the ones that are irregular shapes they are the outcasts.

Abbott pushes the reader’s imagination by examining the question of how various entities recognize each other in 2-dimensions, when, on first glance, everyone should appear as a line. He posits that the fog in northern climates provides a mechanism for recognizing if an object is more than a line, since the brightness of the line would fall off in the fog. With careful training, how fast the brightness falls off would denote shape and societal status, not much different, I suppose, from how clothes labels do today. One could imagine Abbott chuckling to himself when he proposed that there was a movement called the “Chromatistes” who felt that shape recognition could be enhanced by simply requiring each shape to have a standard color. There was a conflict on this issue, and the “lines” (the women) and the “circles” (the high priests) were aligned against all other shapes on the issue of the “Universal Color Bill.”

Other dimensions are visited… both below, that is, 1-dimensional space, and no dimensional space (periods), as well as above, 3-dimensional and beyond. Each dimension has grave difficulties envisioning any other world, much like we do in our own. In fact, those who advocate recognition of worlds with different structural dimensions are subject to criminal prosecution. Abbott does recognize a serious flaw in his “flatland” model in that in true 2-dimensions, no shape could really see another, so he fudges the issue a bit by indicating that each shape does have an intrinsic height, and fudges it more by calling it “brightness.” Oh well, all too many paradigms contain their own contradictions.

Overall, a stimulating read, which paved the way for the “space-time continuum” universe of four dimensions. Still, there is the flaw in his 2-dimensional world of “brightness,” the status of women, and some archaic prose. 4-stars.
I've read Flatland several times in printed form -- it's one of my favorite books. I got this edition free, but even at that, this isn't worth it. The illustrations are missing, and for this book they're not just a nice addition; the pictures are crucial to following the story. (Also, the text makes references to the pictures.) There are also some mangled words and other problems.

If you're about to read this excellent book for the first time, you'd be robbing yourself of the experience by trying to follow this garbled, text-only version. If you're already a fan, you'll just find this edition frustrating. So, whether or not you've read Flatland before, please spend the $1 for a nice, edited version with the illustrations included Flatland A Romance of Many Dimensions (Illustrated)