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: #661655 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12
• Released on: 2001-12-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Amazon.com Review
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.

From Scientific American
Why is The Annotated Flatland piled in heaps at the front of the Harvard Coop? Partly because of the strengths of Flatland itself and partly because of Ian Stewart's annotations. Edwin A. Abbott published Flatland in 1884. More than 12 editions are available today, a measure of the book's appeal. It is a social satire that carries readers beyond conventional ideas and surface appearances to an appreciation of new worlds--those of higher-dimensional space. Many satirists have used voyages to fantastic lands as a means to develop social commentary; Swift's Gulliver's Travels is a classic example. The science in such works is often itself a parody, like that which Gulliver sees on his voyage to Laputa. In contrast, Abbott gets the science right. Included in this edition is the introduction written by William Garnett in 1926 that recommends the book as a guide to the geometry of spacetime and relativity. Indeed, Flatland has introduced countless readers to the geometry of higher dimensions, having been "read by every self-respecting physicist, mathematician and science-fiction writer, inspiring sequels, elaborations and imitations," as Edward Rothstein observed last year in the New York Times. As headmaster of the City of London School, Abbott worked to extend the benefits of education to Victorian England's women and lower classes. He was also a sought-after preacher, and in Flatland he satirizes abuses of power and position and urges greater open-mindedness in that role. As Stewart says of Abbott's hero and narrator, "A twenty-first-century reader can identify with poor A. Square, and with his lonely battle against mindless orthodoxy and social hypocrisy, as easily as a nineteenth-century one." Ian Stewart is a perfect annotator for Flatland, being the author of a sequel, Flatterland. He is familiar to readers of this magazine from his Mathematical Recreations column. More broadly, he is the author of some 60 books bringing mathematics and science to general readers. Geometry is his specialty, and his enthusiasm shines through in his notes. In Flatland, Abbott draws on an idea of 19th-century mathematician C. H. Hinton, who imagined intelligent creatures confined to a plane. Abbott's characters are segments, triangles, squares and polygons. The closer a figure is to a circle, the higher its status, and the Chief Circle is supreme. His hero is a professional man and gentleman, whose name, A. Square, is a play on "Edwin Abbott Abbott." Geometric irregularity leads to criminal or deviant behavior. If reform fails, the deviants are "induced to enter State Hospitals, where they are kept in honourable confinement for life; one or two alone of the more obstinate, foolish, and hopelessly irregular are led to execution." Lowest are triangles; the duller the wit, the sharper the apex. Women are line segments and in low esteem, though somewhat aside from the male hierarchy. Neither women nor the lower classes are to be trifled with. They are deadly fighters, using their sharpness to impale and destroy. Progress from generation to generation is the norm, so all live with hope--but also with fear of the power of the state. The social hierarchy, educational system, machinations of the state and cleverness of the Chief Circle allow for the satirical twists of Part I. In Part II, A. Square is visited by the Sphere from Spaceland. The Sphere brings the Gospel of Three Dimensions. By explorations of Spaceland and Pointland our hero learns the geometry of other dimensions, which he ably explains to the reader. He fails to convince the priestly circles, is declared a heretic and imprisoned, and writes this account from his cell. So ends Abbott's book, but there is much more to Stewart's story. For example, Stewart quotes Hinton on the possible role of a fourth dimension in our reality: "... our proportions [of the fourth dimension] must be infinitely minute, or we should be conscious of them. If such be the case, it would probably be in the ultimate particles of matter, that we should discover the fourth dimension." This, Stewart points out, anticipates ideas of today's string theory, one approach to fundamental particles. In addition to our three regular space dimensions plus time, this theory postulates at least six more space dimensions curled so small as to be undetectable by current means. Our universe may be sitting in a space of 10 or more dimensions--somewhat as Flatland sits in Spaceland. As Stewart warns us in his closing words: "Creatures from the fourth dimension? Arrant nonsense. It's creatures from the tenth dimension we need to worry about."

Peter Renz has taught mathematics at Reed, Wellesley, and Bard colleges and served as associate director of the Mathematical Association of America

Customer Reviews

a brilliant annotated version of this math geek classic
I first read Flatland as an undergraduate mathematics major. It was an epiphany. With spectacularly clear words and explanations Abbott related, in a first person narrative, the thoughts and experiences of A. Square as he explained his own two-dimensional world and explored others of varying dimension. After reading it, I looked at the world in a new way. It was one of the first books I ever wrote in; I was so excited with thought that I underlined, punctuated, and jotted ideas down in the margins -- breaking a lifelong habit of respecting books by treating them like sacred objects. I was grateful to Abbott for his ideas and his lucidity. Breaching biology and time, he had awakened in me a new appreciation of the aesthetics of science and mathematics. Now, here comes Ian Stewart to make this wonderful book even more interesting!

This book is a pleasure in so many ways. The quality of the paper and typesetting are exceptional, the layout is clear, the annotator is a talented writer, and the volume is generously augmented with photo reproductions and line drawings. Stewart's text is just wonderful. While the preface begins with a question: "What is Flatland and why should it be annotated?" and continues with Professor Stewart's reasoning and motivation in tackling this subject, the introduction focuses on Flatland's author, Edwin Abbott Abbott. Stewart is a fine writer and I learned a lot in both sections. But that is just an appetizer. Stewart states in the preface that his intellectual pursuit of all things Flatland led him down many paths and, taking his cue from long-time interesting thinker Martin Gardner, he lets the information flow. Annotations vary in length, from one paragraph to several pages, and cover a magnificent range of subjects, each made entertaining, informative and relevant. One would expect, and does find, mathematics explanations, but Stewart also draws intellectual connections between Abbott and his contemporaries, explains historical references and contextualizes Abbott's contributions to scholarly thought.

I learned something on every page, and enjoyed the reading of it. Stewart has produced a volume that can be compared favorably to Gardner's Annotated Alice in Wonderland, for which he expresses admiration. While this scintillating annotated version of Abbott's classic text should prove delightful for those interested in mathematics, physics, or the history of science, it will be irresistibly fascinating for any fan of Flatland.

Well done. Highly recommended.

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.

Combines math with magic and fun!
With the Alice in Wonderland books, the late 1800s seem to have been the time for really creative mathemetical writing.

Although not as frequently read, Flatland, the Edwin Abbott Abbott story of a little square coming to understanding that higher dimensions do indeed exist outside his world is a delightful read. For those seeking to understand what life is like in other dimensions, Flatland is very comprehensible with clear writing and simple, easy to understand illustrations that help drive home Abbott's points.

Originally written with many sly references to the then existing state of British culture, Abbott's invitation to try and understand higher dimensions was also an invitation to society of his time to try to re think its views on a myriad of issues...including its openness to women in education.

In this way, Abbott converted viewing higher dimensions into both a mathematical and social challenge...points Stewart was sensitive to in his annotations and his own homage, Flatterland.

Although other editions of this work exist, the annotated Flatland is the one to buy both because of its faithful reproduction of the original and its thought provoking and helpful footnotes that give the work broader meaning.