Product Description

The first-ever annotated edition of the beloved classic, beautifully illustrated and brilliantly brought to life for a new generation of readers.. Flatland is a unique, delightful satire that has charmed readers for over a century. Published in 1884 by the English clergyman and head-master Edwin A. Abbott, it is the fanciful tale of A. Square, a two-dimensional being who is whisked away by a mysterious visitor to The Land of Three Dimensions, an experience that forever alters his worldview. By contemplating the notion of dimensions beyond their own, Abbott's Victorian readers were exposed to the then-radical idea of a fourth dimension-preparing them for Einstein's spectacular theories of relativity.Like the book itself, Ian Stewart's commentary takes readers on a strange and wonderful journey. With clarity and wit, Stewart illuminates Abbott's numerous Victorian references, weaves in little-known biographical information about Abbott and his intellectual circle-elucidating Abbott's remarkable connections to H. G. Wells and the mathematician George Boole-and traces the scientific evolution of geometric forms and dimensions. In addition, Stewart provides an extensive bibliography of Abbott's work and that of Charles Howard Hinton, whose wild but ingenious speculations about the fourth dimension undoubtedly inspired Abbott's fable. Touching on such diverse topics as ancient Babylon, Karl Marx, the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the Gregorian calendar, Mount Everest, and phrenology, Stewart makes fascinating connections between Flatland and Edwin A. Abbott's life and times. The result is a classic to rival Abbott's own, and a book that will inspire and delight curious readers for generations to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #368619 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

From Amazon.com
The product of an agreeably dotty cleric named Edwin Abbott Abbott and first published in 1884, Flatland distills all that the Victorian era knew of higher mathematics--and then some--into a witty, complex novel of ideas.

Ian Stewart, the author of the equally witty sequel, Flatterland--which adds to Abbott's store of science the key discoveries made since--does a superb job of explaining the original book's enigmas, allusions, ironies, implausibilities, and what Douglas Hofstadter would call "metamagical themas." Among other things, Stewart comments on Abbott's comments on such things as the nature/nurture controversy, the fourth dimension and beyond, the role of multidimensional spaces in economic systems, infinite series and perfect squares, celestial mechanics, and other matters close to the hearts of cosmologists and science buffs alike.

Stewart's notes make an entertaining and learned addition to an already classic bit of writing--one that has never been out of print since its first publication. For both devoted Abbott fans and newcomers to his work, this is the edition to have. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
In The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, Ian Stewart (Does God Play Dice?) introduces and explains Edwin A. Abbott's 1884 math-geek classic. Stewart, a mathematics professor at Britain's University of Warwick, discusses Abbott's milieu and friends (including George Eliot and H.G. Wells), Victorian literary conventions (e.g., his protagonist gains understanding of the three-dimensional world in a dream), the low social status of Flatlandian women, Abbott's class and political affiliations, and a host of other entertaining and enlightening tidbits. Photos and illus.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The Boston Globe
"Anyone with even a passing fancy for this discipline will find much that is instructive, enlightening, and engaging."

Customer Reviews

A true classic!
Written over a hundred years ago, this book by Edwin A. Abbott is still by far the best introduction to the mathematics of many dimensions. This does not mean that it is a college-text-type of math books that contain complicated derivations and proofs. It is a novel. Ian Stewart's commentary makes it even easier to understand. Even the appendix written by Stewart is a valuable read which gives a brief intro to 4-dimensional mathematics.

A book for all philosophy fans
I understand this book was written by a mathematician and possesses a juvenalian look at Victorian satire- but this book is so much more!! It is philosophy embedded in delicious metaphor and social commentary threaded in the tapestry of extended metaphor. And who said math was boring? This book is a must for every intellectual!!

Intellectual Fun with Commentary
Flatland is a novel originally published in 1884 by Edwin A. Abbott. It is told from the point of view of A. Square, that four-sided resident of the titular country. The first part of the book consists of a description of what it is like to live in a two-dimensional world. The second part concerns A. Square's encounter with a sphere and his subsequent "visions" of pointland, lineland and spaceland.

The purpose of this novel is two-fold: to introduce the casual reader into the concepts of multi-dimensional spaces (i.e. what will become the concept of four dimensional space-time) and to provide social commentary on Victorian society. I cannot comment much on what he achieves in terms of opening the eyes of the Victorian reader to the ills of that society; however, I find his ability to illuminate the concepts of dimensionality extra-ordinary. As a math and physics teacher, I am always looking for ways to open my students' minds to visualizing what they are doing. Even after well over 100 years, few people have approached Abbott's clarity in helping people visualize the difference between different dimensions. One of the best examples: a square only "looks" like a square to someone who can see in three dimensions. A square itself, trapped in a plane, would see another square (or, indeed, any figure) only as a line. This leads to intriguing thoughts on what creatures who live in higher dimensions than our own see as they look at us.

Of course, the story of Flatland alone is wonderful but Stewart's annotation and commentary take the book to another level. On nearly every page, Stewart offers insight and background into the text. Unable to resist the pun: he added another dimension to the book. Having read Flatland many years ago and enjoyed it, I felt I understood the book much better this time around with Stewart's help. Anyone with an interest in math and physics should not pass up the opportunity to read this edition of Flatland.