Flatland

By: Edwin A. Abbott

Narrated by: Peter Delloro

Written by Edwin A. Abbott, under the pseudonym "a square", Flatland offers pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions. Noted science writer Isaac Asimov has described Flatland as "The best introduction one can find into the manner of perceiving dimensions. " As such, Flatland is very popular among mathematics, physics, and computer-science students.Public Domain (P)2009 Alpha DVD LLC

Cute book, not-so-hot narration

Flatland lies somewhere between social commentary on Victorian England and a basic geometry textbook. I think Abbot was shooting for something along the lines of Gulliver's Travels. I enjoyed Flatland, although it doesn't have Gulliver's color.

The protagonist is a 2-dimensional middle-class intellectual square living in a 2-dimensional universe. He describes his world in detail (in which the number of sides of an individual corresponds to his social rank---with narrow triangles being on the low end and circles at the upper end and women being a whole other issue), imagines a 1-dimensional "lineland" and then learns about the 3-dimensional world from a friendly sphere.

If you are interested in geometry, it's an interesting take on the subject. If you are interested in a satiric treatment of the social order in Queen Victoria's reign, this is an interesting pass at it.

I'm less enamored of Peter Delloro's narration. He seemed to equate "dramatic emphasis" with "louder." Passable, but detracts a little from the work.