challenging informative reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: N/A
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

Which way must I go

Ne sećam se da sam, pre kupovine ove knjige, razmišljao na način sličan glavnoj ideji ove knjige koja je savršeno sažeta u podnaslovu: „ispovest gospodina Kvadratića, stanovnika dvodimenzionalnog sveta, o njegovom pustolovnom putovanju u svetova s više i manje dimenzija“

Genijalno!

A knjiga je napisana krajem 19. veka. Još genijalnije!

Knjiga prati doživljaje gospodina Kvadratića, stanovnika Ravanije, dvodimenzionalnog sveta. Knjiga je podeljena u dve celine, u prvom nas gospodin Kvadratić upoznaje sa svetom u kom živi probijajući „četvrti zid“ između nas i pokazuje nam kako je apsurdno to što ne shvatamo kako taj svet funkcioniše. To se odnosi na to ko su stanovnici i kako se razlikuju – trouglovi, kvadrati, jednakostranični mnogouglovi i na kraju krugovi. Što više uglova – to viši hijerarhijski položaj. Još jedna bitna stvar – bez kršenja jednakostraničnosti, takvi moraju na „rekonfiguraciju“ Takođe, žene su linije, nemaju uglove.

U drugom delu, kreće radnja. Gospodin Kvadratić putuje iz sveta u svet, prvo u svet sa jednom dimenzijom, a zatim u 3D svet. Kako je samo nepojmljivo bilo Liniji da shvati ono što mu je gospodin Kvadratić pričao. I kako je teško bilo Kugli da objasni gosodinu Kvadratiću princip 3D sveta. I Kugli da dovede u pitanje soptvena uverenja vezano za potencijalno postojanje 4D sveta.

Da ne kvarim puno priču, ko bude čitao, videće i sam. Najgenijalniji deo knjige za mene je deo koji se odnosi na, kako je u knjizi napisano „savršeno samozadovoljstvo“ i nemogućnost izbavljena iz istog.

Ono što hoću da kažem je da, ova knjiga jeste genijalna, budući da se bavi očigledno univerzalnim temama (društvenim hijerarhijama, nedostatkom perspektive (bukvalno i metaforički) itd.), a takođe hoću da ukažem i na potencijalnu opasnost, kada se stvari ne sagledavaju u sveukupnom kontekstu. O čemu govorim? Koliko god je knjiga dobra, nažalost, u vremenu poluinformacija u kom živimo, ova knjiga može da posluži „poluinformisanima“ kao dokaz i metafora za funkcionisanje sveta, ali u nekom izvrnutom ruhu. Ja, lično, promovišem naučni način razmišljanja, što svakako podrazumeva otvorenost za nove dokaze, sve dok su oni u skladu sa naučnim principom, jer što bi Dokins rekao, parafraziram: it makes medicine cure people, rockets reach the Moon. It works... bitches!

An interesting satire and exploration of the dimensions. Reflects, or maybe parodies, some of the time's prevailing beliefs and attitudes, especially towards women.
challenging slow-paced
challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I have no idea how I came to own this 19th century novel 10 years ago, but it is a most unusual quasi-scientific fictional tale narrated by a man who lives in a two-dimensional world and is taken to the three-dimensional world for a short visit and a series of lessons on how that other world exists.   A very strange story, indeed.

Interesting mathematically, and caricature of an elitist (and very) misogynistic society. Nature vs Nurture, Free Will vs Determination. Science complacency. 19th century book easy to read.

Reads like a proto Greg Egan story, with the mathematics and the speculation on life in different spatial dimensions. The satire is largely lost on me 135 years removed (when the narrator laments that the denial of education to women has created social strain between men and women and husbands and wives, I can't help but marvel that in the intervening time we're well on our way to implementing a reversal). Still, the society he depicts seems hellish to the extreme. Even ignoring the subjugation of women and the strictly delineated caste system, it implements the worst kind of eugenic policies of execution for minor failings such as having irregular angles or failing to achieve a satisfactory standard of sight-recognition for the higher polygons. Not to mention practice of breaking many-sided polygon children into circles. I can't believe I've never heard this book come up in discussions of dystopic literature.

The actual story, as such, is extremely simple and can be summed up as "seeing is believing". Nobody can be convinced of the existence of higher dimensions until they see them themselves. Even the Sphere initially the idea of four or more spatial dimensions until Square turns Spheres argument of analogy back on him.
funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

women just love being infinitesimally thin don't they

2.5

Have you ever been reading a geometry textbook and wished the shapes could...do stuff?

Me neither.

But Flatland is what I imagine might ensue if you were doing your math homework, then for some reason decided to ingest some mind-altering chemicals, and instead of solving the problems, you thought it would be hilarious and clever to tell life stories of lines, triangles, squares, and all their friends.

This takes the award for NERDIEST thing I've ever read