Flatland is a rich and thoughtful novella about geometry, sociology, politics, and religion. The author Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838-1926, aged 87) was a British educator and theologian.

The book takes the form of a memoir written by a square living in a fictional 2D world called Flatland. There are three major themes

  • The social hierarchy of the citizens (i.e., 2D shapes) in Flatland.
  • A historical movement in Flatland of using technology (color) to overthrow aristocracy and establish equality among all 2D shapes, and how it ended.
  • The square’s ‘religious’ experience with a sphere from the 3D world Spaceland, and what happens to an apostle to spread the gospel of The Third Dimension.

This is a fun book to read and I highly recommend it. It is currently in the public domain (first published in 1884) so there are many free versions available. For example, I read the free Kindle AmazonClassics Edition (which lacks the illustrations).