Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
by Ian Stewart
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ian StewartEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04
ISBN: 073820675X
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Book Reviews of Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
Book Review: Warm & Fuzzy Mathematical Sequel
Summary: 5 Stars
It certainly helps to have read and enjoyed the original Flatland by Edwin Abbot. This book written over a century later continues by following the adventures of Victoria Line, the grand-daughter of Flatland's A. Square, who proves to have greater depth than first imagined. Finding her grandfather's diaries she attempts to invoke and invitation to the Sphere he once met, but instead reaches higher and finds herself face to surface with the multi-dimensional "Space Hopper".
What follows is a series of pun filled excursions to different mathematical worlds which in turn are compared to our own existence on "Planeturth". Together with our intrepid duo we get to visit a Fractal Forest, grab a taxi on a Cartesian grid (Quadratic City) and experience life on a Platterverse where objects shrink as you get closer to the edge, so that a whereas to an outsider the universe if finite, it appears to be be infinite to someone inside. And while the discussions of curved space may be a bit counter-intuitive at first, they are quite understandable if you can let go of preconceived notions.
Sequels are not usually as good as the original but Ian Stewart has a gift both for narrative and for explaining ideas. There have been other attempts - Burger's Sphereland, Ruddy Rucker's Spaceland, and A. K. Dewdney's [[ASIN:0387989161 Planiverse]] none of which I found were as clear or as entertaining. This one succeeds, and has the additional subtext that girls not only CAN do math, but that it is an enjoyable experience. I've read this book to each of my children when they were just preteen before going to bed, though it is probably a requirement that you have the background and affinity for the subject in order to discuss the ideas. A bright 11 or 12 year old with an aptitude for math or physics would enjoy it too.
I've grown quite fond of the book and it is definitely a keeper.
Summary of Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
First there was Edwin A. Abbott's remarkable Flatland, published in 1884, and one of the all-time classics of popular mathematics. Now, from mathematician and accomplished science writer Ian Stewart, comes what Nature calls "a superb sequel." Through larger-than-life characters and an inspired story line, Flatterland explores our present understanding of the shape and origins of the universe, the nature of space, time, and matter, as well as modern geometries and their applications. The journey begins when our heroine, Victoria Line, comes upon her great-great-grandfather A. Square's diary, hidden in the attic. The writings help her to contact the Space Hopper, who tempts her away from her home and family in Flatland and becomes her guide and mentor through ten dimensions. In the tradition of Alice in Wonderland and The Phantom Toll Booth, this magnificent investigation into the nature of reality is destined to become a modern classic.
In 1884, an amiably eccentric clergyman and literary scholar named Edwin Abbott Abbott published an odd philosophical novel called Flatland, in which he explored such things as four-dimensional mathematics and gently satirized some of the orthodoxies of his time. The book went on to be a bestseller in Victorian England, and it has remained in print ever since.
With Flatterland, Ian Stewart, an amiable professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, updates the science of Flatland, adding literally countless dimensions to Abbott's scheme of things ("Your world has not just four dimensions," one of his characters proclaims, "but five, fifty, a million, or even an infinity of them! And none of them need be time. Space of a hundred and one dimensions is just as real as a space of three dimensions"). Along his fictional path, Stewart touches on Feynman diagrams, superstring theory, time travel, quantum mechanics, and black holes, among many other topics. And, in Abbott's spirit, Stewart pokes fun at our own assumptions, including our quest for a Theory of Everything.
You can't help but be charmed by a book with characters named Superpaws, the Hawk King, the Projective Lion, and the Space Hopper and dotted with doggerel such as "You ain't nothin' but a hadron / nucleifyin' all the time" and "I can't get no / more momentum." And, best of all, you can learn a thing or two about modern mathematics while being roundly entertained. That's no small accomplishment, and one for which Stewart deserves applause. --Gregory McNamee
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