Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So

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

Product Description

Dr. G. Keith Still (Head of Mathematical Modelling - Starlab, Brussels)


An enjoyable sequel   September 4, 2003
Bruce R. Gilson (Rockville, MD United States)
21 out of 25 found this review helpful

This book is a sequel to Edwin Abbott's "Flatland" and makes its heroine a granddaughter of the hero of Abbott's book. Some people may find his playing with words excessive (his heroine is named "Victoria Line," combining the fact that she is literally a geometric "line" with the name of a subway line in London) but the book manages to cover a lot of territory in an amusing manner. I can't say I _learned_ a lot from the book, because I already knew most of its subject matter, but I'd certainly encourage someone who wanted to learn about curved spaces and higher dimensions to read it. The ultimate accolade: _After_ I had read it from cover to cover, I bought a copy, just so I'd have it in my own library.


A very thought-provoking book   December 3, 2001
A 12-year old reader (Decatur, IL USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

"Flatterland" is a very thought-provoking book by Ian Stewart. It is the sequel to "Flatland". I would call it a mathematical fiction book. It is about a girl from Flatland, a 2D world. She is called Victoria Line (all women on Flatland are lines). She goes on a journey through many different dimensions and universes with a being called the Space Hopper. She learns much about math on the way.
One of my favorite universes was Platterland, a 2D hyperbolic universe. While in Platterland she learns many things about hyperbolic geometry, including that straight lines appear to be curved, squares can have five sides and five right angles, and things shrink as they get closer to the edge of the universe!
Another one of my favorite universes was Topologica, a 3D topologic universe. While there Victoria learns about topology and how two-holed doughnuts can turn into coffee cups! She also meets Moobius, a cow shaped like a Moebius strip (a 2D shape with only one side), who gives milk in Klein bottles! Klein bottles are bottles in which the top curves around and goes back into the bottle!
Throughout the book there are many funny puns, right down to the name of the main character. Victoria Line is a subway line in London! The puns go very deep. One pun is about two people called Twindledum and Twindledumber. They are named after Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass"! Another character is called the Hawk King, named after Stephen William Hawking!
I really enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes math and knows a little bit about it or just enjoys reading funny books! It helps if you have read "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass". Many of the puns come from them. This book is definitely not for young kids though, some parts were way over my head. All in all, I understood most of it-and it was great!


A sequel just as good as the original   June 22, 2006
Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

If imitation is the sincerest form of flatterly, that expertly executed imitation must certainly be the most...flattering.

In this way, excellent flattery is what this book both promises and delivers in a big way.

After having read the Edwin Abbott Abbott book Flatland in 1962, ideas germinated in Ian Stewart's head for three decades before he took pen in hand and created, Flatterland...a sequel just as good as the original.

For those who don't know, Flatland is the 1884 story of square living in a flat society, Flatland, who comes to learn about higher dimensions, with his friend the sphere.

Set one hundred years later, Flatterland picks up the story with Victoria the line segment, Mr. Square's grand daughter, who re-visits high dimensions given modern understanding of what those higher dimensions are.

And even though some discussions contain pretty academic mathematical theory, on the whole, the book manages that unique accessibility and magic that comes when true understanding is combined with a great ability to communicate.

If all Stewart managed was to create a modern tour of physics and math touching on such diverse topics as how the universe came to be, whether we really do live in a "uni"verse,contemporary M brane theory, string theory and how other dimensions relate to all these issues, the book would merit five stars.

However, and to Stewart's credit, the book actually also touches on higher dimensions as a metaphor for overturning two dimensional ways of looking at things...just like the original. If Abbott was around to read this book one can't help but think that he and Mr. Square would be very pleased indeed.


No Words to Describe It!   January 13, 2004
22 out of 22 found this review helpful

As a high school student, I was tortured into reading this book for Math Analysis. Having previously read Flatland, I was not keen on the idea of reading the sequel. My grade-conscious self got the better of me and I started to read the book. From the first chapter I was enthralled! Ian Stewart knew how to write and keep my attention. My parents had to threaten me so I would put it down so I could eat. (Imagine: a high schooler entranced in a MATH book!) I so totally recommend this book because I would have NEVER understood Mandelblot (er... Mandelbrot) nor would I have read on to discover a plethora of new dimensions (one and a quarter). I would recommend any person, avid mathematician or high schooler, to read this. It was easily understood and Ian Stewart is a fantastic writer! Too bad they didn't have ten stars!