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caseywright 's review for:
Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott
I first heard about this book in 2020 on NPR during the “Finding Time” series played on Saturday morning. The book was written in 1884 as a satirical novella. Although considered fiction, many of the scientific ideas of the future were hinted at and even casually introduced including relativity and string theory. Also, in later (much later) interviews with Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, both considered this book one of the earliest influences in their own learning.
It’s a story about a square who later finds out that there are some beings that know nothing of dimension who live in Pointland. Other beings exist in Lineland which is made up of one-dimension “things.” The square, of course, lives in two-dimensional Flatland. When he learns about Spaceland and the three dimensional beings who live there, he starts to conceive of places with many more dimensions. It’s a very thought provoking and important book.
I also found this little dystopian gem in the history section of the book and thought it was pretty timely:
“…in many popularly elected School Boards, there is a reaction in favour of “the cheap system” as it is called - I am myself disposed to think that this is one of the many cases in which expense is the truest economy.”
In other words, a cheap educational system strips our kids of the education they deserve; investing money into education gives our kids the best possible opportunity and is a worthwhile expense.
It’s a story about a square who later finds out that there are some beings that know nothing of dimension who live in Pointland. Other beings exist in Lineland which is made up of one-dimension “things.” The square, of course, lives in two-dimensional Flatland. When he learns about Spaceland and the three dimensional beings who live there, he starts to conceive of places with many more dimensions. It’s a very thought provoking and important book.
I also found this little dystopian gem in the history section of the book and thought it was pretty timely:
“…in many popularly elected School Boards, there is a reaction in favour of “the cheap system” as it is called - I am myself disposed to think that this is one of the many cases in which expense is the truest economy.”
In other words, a cheap educational system strips our kids of the education they deserve; investing money into education gives our kids the best possible opportunity and is a worthwhile expense.