Flatland

The first half describes Flatland's society in detail: how its people recognize one another, how houses are built and how the many-sided Circles rule over everyone else. Abbott uses this world to satirize the rigid class system and attitudes of Victorian England, including its treatment of women, who in Flatland are mere straight lines. The satire is sharp, though some passages can be uncomfortable for modern readers if their irony is missed.

In the second half, A Square dreams of Lineland, a world of one dimension whose king cannot imagine a second, and then is visited by a Sphere from Spaceland, who lifts him into the third dimension. Changed forever, he tries to teach others about higher dimensions, with unhappy consequences. The book offers an elegant way to think about a fourth dimension by analogy, and it has inspired scientists, mathematicians and writers for more than a century. This edition includes an introduction by Banesh Hoffmann.

Clever, unusual and thought-provoking, a short classic that rewards rereading. Readers interested in mathematics, physics or science fiction will find it especially rewarding, and it can be read in a single sitting. About 96 pages in the Dover Thrift paperback.