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Flatland

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Flatland

By: Edwin Abbott
Narrated by: Patrick Frederic
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About this listen

 Flatland, like our own world, is on the verge of the millenium. On the last day of the year 1999, a Square—hitherto undistinguished from the other shapes of his two-dimensional world—receives the Gospel of Three Dimensions, revealed to that world's flat inhabitants only once every a thousand years. Transformed by a truth he is unable to conceal, he is promptly condemned as a heretic. His poignant tale is itself a multi-dimensional creation, for it is not only a challenge to our most basic perceptions of everyday reality, but a sharp social satire and an illuminating mathematical treatise as well.



In the tradition of fantasy and social satire that includes Gulliver's Travels , Alice in Wonderland, and Animal Farm, Abbott pokes fun at the rigid class structure and concern for appearances of his Victorian society even as he poses an underlying question that is as provoking today as it was a century ago. Could we and everything we see around us be only a cross section for worlds of higher dimensions?Executive Producer: Jacob Bronstein
Producer: Garet Scott
©1884 Edwin A. Abbott
(P)2001 Random House, Inc. Classics Fantasy Physics Science Science Fiction Fiction

Critic reviews

“At once a classic of science fiction, a playful brainteaser about geometry, a pointed satire of Victorian manners—and, finally, a strangely compelling argument about reason, faith, and the greatest mysteries of the universe.” —The Wall Street Journal
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I read about this some years ago, though I can't remember where. As a religious studies teacher I thought I'd better read it for discussing epistemology in class. I was more than pleasantly surprised. A genuinely compelling story where you can begin to relate to two dimensional characters (a bit like Jackie Collins, then!) and begin to care about them. Hilarious from start to finish. I'm chosing to believe the sexism is sarcastic, rather than simply a product of its age, but it's funny all the same. Really well read, with great feeling. Listen to this. It'll cheer you up!

One of the best books I've listened to...

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