Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
by Ian Stewart

Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland was a classic. Many books have been written that picks up where Flatland left off and Stewart's Flatterland is another one. It is an entertaining book but requires some work from the reader to appreciate the many dimensions (pun intended) of the book.

The thin plot of the story revolves around another inhabitant of Abbott's flatland; Vikki, the great-great-granddaughter of the infamous A. Square of Abbott's tale. While looking through a storage area of her house, she stumbles upon A. Square's original tale about places with more than two dimensions and his meeting with a Sphere and his introduction to Spaceland. Hidden in the tale is a message that she uses to signal to a new creature; the 'Space Hopper' who subsequently takes her out of Flatland and introduces her to the many varied dimensional worlds.

From then on, things take a mathematical turn. In Flatterland, Stewart take the opportunity to introduce the various new types of dimension that mathematicians and physicists use and the nature of space. Among the topics introduced in this book are multi-variable dimensions, fractal dimensions, topology, one-sided space, projection space, hyperbolic space, quantum physics, the nature of black holes (singularities), feynman diagrams, closed and open time loops (and the possibility of time machines), cosmic strings, string theory and n-branes. All of them are explained in the form of conversations between the Space Hopper, Vikki and the various strange characters that inhabit the various spaces and dimensions.

This is, at heart, a book that sets out to look at current concepts about space, time and dimensions as seen by scientists and mathematicians, wrapped in a travelogue. You probably will not be able to grasp all the concepts introduced in the book at once (I know I didn't) but with time, some of the subjects introduced may lead you to find out more about dimensions. You might start to look at the three dimensional world around you with different eyes.

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Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So by Ian Stewart

Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So
by Ian Stewart