Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

By: Edwin Abbott

Narrated by: Alan Munro

Abbott used the fictional two-dimensional world of Flatland to offer pointed observations on the social hierarchy of Victorian culture. However, the novella's more enduring contribution is its examination of dimensions, for which the novella is still popular amongst mathematics, physics, and computer science students. Several films have been made from the story, including a feature film in 2007 called Flatland. Other efforts have been short or experimental films, including one narrated by Dudley Moore and a short film with Martin Sheen titled Flatland: The Movie.

Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media

Thinking out of the box

Exceeded my expectations. Brilliantly fleshed out and interesting. While some of the language is dated, it is poetic and remains completely relevant to our times. You could read and enjoy this as a simple sci fi vignette but it's hard to miss the analogies. Challenges all of us as individuals and society members to think beyond your little world and embrace others who do the same.

Simply an extraordinary Genius ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Given this was written sometime before 1884, before modern physics revelations, and based only on mathematics and an insightful imagination; I find myself shattered between giving a standing ovation, and watching my ego rolling and crying in agony, after he realized the extent our ignorance.. the drama.. the richness in perception, and depth in describing the variance yielded from different perspectives.. absolutely amazing! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

excellent read

An excellent read the book captures your attention from beginning to end take moment and escape to this different space

Odd Book

Read it as part of the 1k books to read before you die recommendations. Not much plot. If you are expecting plot to happen... well, you get a few minutes of semi-plot where someone in the 2 dimension realizes there is a 3rd and gets thrown in jail.

Good Book

The story itself was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. The narrator slightly detracted from the experience, but for the price I would still recommend it.

Trippy but a great brain teaser

It was confusing at first but the book does a great job demonstrating these weird and abstract ideas.

awful narrater and recording - great story

narrater has a very deep voice and reads at very uneven speed, constant pauses.
that plus the old outdated vocabulary make it hard to follow and enjoy the story.
i wished there was a more modern adaptation of this almost 200 year old masterpiece...

A canonical book read tediously

This book is a must read for people who are wrestling with concepts that are outside of their world... and will likely remain outside of their possible experiences. Physicalist atheists come to mind... but limited field thinking can happen to anyone about anything that has a metaphysical or presently unknown component. The material in the book is enjoyable, but it is by its nature tedious. Unfortunately, it was narrated tediously and acted poorly. It was like Munro didn't bother to read ahead. He frequently ended sentences before they actually ended. That being said, it's a short book, and I enjoyed going through it again. The ideas are worth the pain.

Unique, mind-bending plot line

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. The characters in this book are geometric figures, and you have to bend your mind to a one- and two-dimensional world to get the most out of the story. It's told from the viewpoint of the narrator (a square), and I believe subtly mocks distinctions we make among ourselves based on traits outside our control, such as race, gender and class.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions?

Learning that wives in Flatland must make the "peace cry" whenever they move to indicate their presence.

Have you listened to any of Alan Munro’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I loved the narrator. He was perfectly suited to this book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Learning that wives in Flatland are considered pretty unintelligent.

Learned a lot

This book awoke in me an understanding of the dimensions yet it also awoke in my mind the possibility that there could be more or less dimensions than the the number of dimensions in which we live in (the 3 dimensions).