Originally published in 1884 by Seeley & Co., Flatland was a critique of the social practices and beliefs of the Victorian culture.  Written by an English school master (Edwin A. Abbott), it is now considered one of the best introductions to perceiving dimensions (Isaac Asimov is quoted to saying as much).

The story is a narrative given by an occupant of a two-dimensional world.  In the first half, the square (our narrator) outlines how such a world functions and the many social classes and distinctions that arise through the “natural order” of things.  He then relates of a visitation from a Spaceland sphere and how he (a denizen of flatland) is introduced into the world of three-dimensions.  While some might become offended by how Abbott conveys the standings of certain people, the novella has transformed into far more than simple critique.  Known to many physics and mathematics students the world over, Flatland offers the beginning stages of how lesser dimensions might operate and allow us to accept the impossible via placing ourselves in the narrators shape.

When read, this 96 page trans-dimensional adventure can be a wonderful exercise for the brain in imagining what we might consider the imposible.  Just like the many inhabitants of the worlds visited in the book, we ourselves cannot conceive of a greater plane of existence or extra dimensions.  But just because the mind finds difficulty in conjuring up such a strange idea, doesn’t mean it might not be real.  A hundred years ago physicists thought they’d reached the end of understanding, that we’d discovered all there was and the rest was just ironing out the details.  Yet today with cutting edge theories such as String/M Theory, extra dimensions are needed to provide the most accurate description of our universe.

Abbott may not have had the hard sciences in mind when he wrote, but Flatland has found a niche on the shelves of people interested in knowing how other dimensions might be described and perceived.  Not to say these are the only people that would enjoy his flat tale.  Religious readers might enjoy the undertones expressed by the sphere in proclaiming the “gospel of three-dimensions.”  I know next to nothing of Abbott but would take bets on him being a religious man of some degree.  It is an easy jump to see deity as not some strange mysterious being, but rather an occupant that has more than three dimensions at his disposal, thus giving him powers that would seem impossible to us spacelanders.

Anyone looking for an interesting fiction that almost reads like non-fiction will find Flatland to be the thing that satisfies such a craving.  In the realm of science fiction, this is a strange king and an immovable classic