Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows—only hard and with luminous edges—and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said "my universe": but now my mind has been opened to higher views of things.
In such a country, you will perceive at once that it is impossible that there should be anything of what you call a "solid" kind; but I dare say you will suppose that we could at least distinguish by sight the Triangles, Squares, and other figures, moving about as I have described them.
On the contrary, we could see nothing of the kind, not at least so as to distinguish one figure from another. Nothing was visible, nor could be visible, to us, except Straight Lines; and the necessity of this I will speedily demonstrate. Place a penny on the middle of one of your tables in Space; and leaning over it, look down upon it. It will appear a circle. But now, drawing back to the edge of the table, gradually lower your eye thus bringing yourself more and more into the condition of the inhabitants of Flatland , and you will find the penny becoming more and more oval to your view, and at last when you have placed your eye exactly on the edge of the table so that you are, as it were, actually a Flatlander the penny will then have ceased to appear oval at all, and will have become, so far as you can see, a straight line.
The same thing would happen if you were to treat in the same way a Triangle, or Square, or any other figure cut out of pasteboard. As soon as you look at it with your eye on the edge on the table, you will find that it ceases to appear to you a figure, and that it becomes in appearance a straight line. Take for example an equilateral Triangle—who represents with us a Tradesman of the respectable class.
When I was in Spaceland I heard that your sailors have very similar experiences while they traverse your seas and discern some distant island or coast lying on the horizon. Home Downloads Free Downloads Flatland pdf. Abbott Submitted by: Jane Kivik. Read Online Download. Abbott by Edwin A. Green by Simon R. Great book, Flatland pdf is enough to raise the goose bumps alone.
Add a review Your Rating: Your Comment:. Burrows by Edwin G. The first edition of the novel was published in , and was written by Edwin A. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of 96 pages and is available in Paperback format.
The main characters of this science fiction, science story are A. Square, The King of Lineland. The book has been awarded with , and many others. Please note that the tricks or techniques listed in this pdf are either fictional or claimed to work by its creator. We do not guarantee that these techniques will work for you.
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