- English
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- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
First published in 1884, Edwin A. Abbott's classic novella is many things: a biting social satire on Victorian society, an exhortation to literally think outside the box (or, if you're a privileged Spacelander, outside the cube), and above all a testament to the universal quest for knowledge and the inherent beauty and purity of mathematical truth. Flatland tells the story of "A SQUARE, " a mathematician living in the Second dimension, known as Flatland, whose perceptions of his Universe are turned upside down when he is visited by a Sphere from the Third dimension, known as Spaceland. "A SQUARE" also muses on life in Lineland and Pointland. Flatland is one of the very few novels about math and philosophy that can appeal to almost any layperson. Published in 1880, this short fantasy takes us to a completely flat world of two physical dimensions where all the inhabitants are geometric shapes, and who think the planar world of length and width that they know is all there is. But one inhabitant discovers the existence of a third physical dimension, enabling him to finally grasp the concept of a fourth dimension. Watching our Flatland narrator, we begin to get an idea of the limitations of our own assumptions about reality, and we start to learn how to think about the confusing problem of higher dimensions. The book is also quite a funny satire on society and class distinctions of Victorian England.
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Table of contents
- Half-Title
- Full-Title
- Contents
- Preface
- Copyright
- Part 1 - This World
- 1 - Of The Nature Of Flatland
- 2 - Of The Climate And Houses In Flatland
- 3 - Concerning The Inhabitants Of Flatland
- 4 - Concerning The Women
- 5 - Of Our Methods Of Recognizing One Another
- 6 - Of Recognition By Sight
- 7 - Concerning Irregular Figures
- 8 - Of The Ancient Practice Of Painting
- 9 - Of The Universal Color Bill
- 10 - Of The Suppression Of The Chromatic Sedition
- 11 - Concerning Our Priests
- 12 - Of The Doctrine Of Our Priests
- Part 2 - Other Worlds
- 13 - How I Had A Vision Of Lineland
- 14 - How Vainly I Tried To Explain The Nature Of Flatland
- 15 - Concerning A Stranger From Spaceland
- 16 - How A Stranger Vainly Endeavored To Reveal To Me In Words The Mysteries Of Spaceland
- 17 - How The Sphere, Having In Vain Tried Words, Resorted To Deeds
- 18 - How I Came To Spaceland, And What I Saw There
- 19 - How, Though The Sphere Showed Me Other Mysteries Of Spaceland, I Still Desired More; And What Came Of It
- 20 - How The Sphere Encouraged Me In A Vision
- 21 - How I Tried To Teach The Theory Of Three Dimensions To My Grandson, And With What Success
- 22 - How I Then Tried To Diffuse The Theory Of Three Dimensions By Other Means, And With What Result