Flatterland: Like Flatland Only More So [Paperback]

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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Higher mathematics and low comedy intersect acutely in this fuzzy follow-up to Edwin Abbott's 1884 classic, Flatland. Where Abbott's compact fable about a two-dimensional world discomposed by the discovery of a third dimension was a jeu d'esprit that slyly satirized rigid Victorian society, Stewart's sequel is an episodic ramble through the "flatterland" of modern mathematical theory that begins when teenaged Flatlander Vikki Line, great-great-granddaughter of Abbott's narrator, uses her ancestor's "hysterical document" as a passport to the Mathiverse. Accompanied by a Space Hopper guide, she tours landmarks of the post-Einsteinian universe that include fractal geometry, black holes, cosmic strings and quantum theory. Stewart (The Science of Discworld) keeps the tone light with incessant puns (a one-sided cow named "Moobius") and plays on names ("the Hawk King," who presides over a wormhole-ridden realm in the space-time continuum). The many line drawings that illustrate the text are both amusing and instructive. But the terrain Stewart sets out to explore is vast and abstract, and not all of the subjects he covers find a proper social analogue or cultural referent. The result is that lessons Vikki learns on some of the more abstruse principles still have a textbook stuffiness that even the author's Carrollian wit can't leaven. Though perplexing in spots, the tale is ever enchanting, and its user-friendly blend of fiction and nonfiction proves that the comic and cosmic need not be mutually exclusive. (May 1)Forecast: With advertising in Scientific American and the New Yorker and a 50,000-copy first printing, this should be a hit with the literate elite who also appreciate math and science.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Adult/High School-During Victorian times, Edwin A. Abbott wrote the popular mathematical classic Flatland, in which he introduced readers to the concept of four dimensions, as seen through the eyes of two-dimensional A. Square, while cleverly inserting social commentary on class structure and women. In Flatterland, Stewart tells modern readers the story of A. Square's teenage great-great granddaughter, Victoria (Vikki) Line. She feels the typical adolescent mixture of familial love and rebelliousness. When she discovers a copy of her great-great grandfather's book, her parents forbid her to read it and actually burn it to remove the temptation. Of course, she finds a way to read the book anyway and manages to invoke a trans-dimensional being called a Space Hopper, who beckons her to explore the Mathiverse. In the tradition of Abbott's work, Stewart insinuates social commentary here and there; wry wit abounds and sometimes the puns can get quite merciless. Since Vikki is a mere two-dimensional being, she needs help visualizing different dimensions and gets plugged into a Virtual Unreality Engine (VUE). Instead of falling down a rabbit hole … la Alice in Wonderland, she gets whooshed up into another dimension. Indeed there are references to Lewis Carroll's classic; Vikki encounters a twisted Topologist's Tea Party, and a Schrodinger's Cat complete with disembodied mouth. Containing plenty of illustrations and analogies to help readers through the Mathiverse, Flatterland is an accessible introduction to a number of the abstract worlds for students who have progressed beyond Euclidian geometry and have at least heard of modern physics.

Sheila Shoup, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Scientific American's math writer offers a sequel to Flatland, Edwin Abbott's late-nineteenth-century fantasy about a two-dimensional universe disturbed by a visitor from the third dimension, the Sphere. Since Abbott's era, mathematicians and physicists have latched onto fourth, nth, and fractional dimensions, which mandates an update. Stewart introduces Flatlander Vikki Line, who discovers a great-grandfather's book that mentions the third dimension. Apoplectic about such apostasy, Vikki's father destroys the book, but she has saved a copy in her computer. She summons the Space Hopper to guide her through the "Mathiverse," the set of all possible spaces and times. As they alight in Topologica, Hyperbolica, Planiturthia, and elsewhere, the Space Hopper surveys the inhabitants' horizons while Vikki, bright line though she is, sweats her way to understanding. She and the Space Hopper proceed to atomic physics, where a quantum cat talks about being dead and alive in Schrodinger's box, and to relativity, ruled by the Hawk King. Yes, the puns are groaners, but Stewart's Flatland-plus makes it fun to think in more than three dimensions. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"...enjoyable, quirky and entertaining... communicates fundamental concepts of modern mathematics and physics to the general reader most effectively." -- New Scientist

"Flatland challenged the familiar conception of three dimensions; Flatterland challenges the familiar conception of dimension itself." -- New York Times

"Brings to life the mind-bending world of cutting-edge mathematics and alternate universes." -- Salon.com

"The tale is ever enchanting..." -- Publishers Weekly