Book Description:
Edwin A. Abbott’s Flatland (1884) is a brilliantly imaginative blend of mathematical allegory, social satire, and speculative fiction. Set in a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometric shapes, the story follows A Square — a thoughtful, law-abiding citizen — who narrates the rigid class hierarchy and limitations of life in Flatland.
When A Square is visited by a mysterious Sphere from the third dimension, he struggles to comprehend the concept of “height” — and begins to question the very nature of reality, knowledge, and authority. Through this encounter, Abbott challenges readers to consider the limits of perception and the resistance to new ideas.
At once a playful mathematical exploration and a pointed critique of Victorian society’s class and gender norms, Flatland remains a thought-provoking and surprisingly modern classic of philosophical science fiction.
