Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Comments

Posts from This Journal by “bookblog 2016” Tag

Feb. 7th, 2016 at 5:01 PM

A classic of nineteenth century sf, where the story is told by an inhabitant of a two-dimensional universe who has become aware that a third dimension exists. As a teenager I had read Martin Gardner's extended review of this book and similar writings, and to be honest it was better than the original source material, which is laden with assumptions about what the reader would find funny which rather grate on today's sensitivities particularly with regard to gender but also class and race; it has not aged well. But at the same time the core message, challenging the reader to conceive of a conceptual breakthrough where our universe is just one aspect of a higher dimensional reality, is well executed - and of course the concept of other dimensions has become much more operational since 1884.

This came to the top of my TBR pile as the most popular sf book in my LibraryThing that I had not yet read. Next on that list is Walking on Glass, by Iain M. Banks.

Brain Fetish, by Kinga Korska

Second frame of third page: Second frame of third section I picked up this graphic novel at Octocon. It's a nice little…
What Makes This Book So Great: Re-Reading the Classics of Fantasy and SF, by Jo Walton

Second paragraph of third chapter ( A Deepness in the Sky: the Tragical History of Pham Nuwen): In A Fire Upon the Deep we learn early on that our…
Sex at Dawn, by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethà

Second paragraph of third chapter: True, some of us manage to rise above this aspect of our nature (or to sink below it). But these preconscious…

March 2023

( 2 comments — Leave a comment )

qatsi

Feb. 7th, 2016 07:28 pm (UTC)

Yes, I think grated was my reaction too. For me it undermined any further insight, unfortunately.

Link | Reply | Thread |

pink_halen

Feb. 7th, 2016 07:48 pm (UTC)

I remember that book. As I recall, women were a single line so that was added to offspring so each successive generation had one more side than there father.

Link | Reply | Thread |

( 2 comments — Leave a comment )