Flatland

From Biography Base:Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the mathematical satire Flatland (1884).He was educated at the City of London School and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took the highest honours in classics, mathematics and theology, and became fellow of his college. In 1862 he took orders. After holding masterships at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at Clifton College, he succeeded G. F. Mortimer as headmaster of the City of London School in 1865 at the early age of twenty-six. He was Hulsean lecturer in 1876.He retired in 1889, and devoted himself to literary and theological pursuits. Dr. Abbott's liberal inclinations in theology were prominent both in his educational views and in his books. His Shakespearian Grammar (1870) is a permanent contribution to English philology. In 1885 he published a life of Francis Bacon. His theological writings include three anonymously published religious romances - Philochristus (1878), Onesimus (1882), and Sitanus (1906).More weighty contributions are the anonymous theological discussion The Kernel and the Husk (1886), Philomythus (1891), his book The Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman (1892), and his article "The Gospels" in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, embodying a critical view which caused considerable stir in the English theological world. He also wrote St Thomas of Canterbury, his Death and Miracles (1898), Johannine Vocabulary (1905), Johannine Grammar (1906). Flatland was published in 1884.Sources that say he is the brother of Evelyn Abbott (1843 - 1901), who was a well-known tutor of Balliol College, Oxford, and author of a scholarly history of Greece, are in error.

出版者:Dover Publications

作者:Edwin A. Abbott

页数:96

出版时间:1992-9-21

价格:USD 3.00

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780486272634

图书标签:科幻数学小说哲学平面国英国EdwinAbbottflatland

'Upward, yet not Northward.' How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott's droll and delightful 'romance of many dimensions' explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing the gospel of the third dimension on the eve of the new millennium. Part geometry lesson, part social satire, this classic work of science fiction brilliantly succeeds in enlarging all readers' imaginations beyond the limits of our 'respective dimensional prejudices'. In a world where class is determined by how many sides you possess, and women are straight lines, the prospects for enlightenment are boundless, and Abbott's hypotheses about a fourth and higher dimensions seem startlingly relevant today. This new edition of Flatland illuminates the social and intellectual context that produced the work as well as the timeless questions that it raises about the limits of our perception and knowledge. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

读后感

美剧《生活大爆炸》第三季的第12集，谢尔顿和拉杰在屋子里闲聊，拉杰说要出去找姑娘，谢尔顿说，每当他想换换脑子的时候，就假想自己到了平面国，到了一个二维的世界。这两位出去都找到了姑娘，有个姑娘告诉谢尔顿，艾勃特那本《平面国》，不仅是个数学小说，还与维多利亚时...  

经历过20世纪初的科学大爆炸后的人们可能不易为然，但是在我，却为这本书感到惊讶。很难想象在1884年，距离普朗克提出量子理论还有16年，距离爱因斯坦创立狭义相对论还有21年，竟然有人写出了这样一本小书。要知道，当时，科学精英们为代表的人类的骄傲已经达到了顶峰，从牛顿...

《生活大爆炸》里，谢耳朵有一次说：Sometimes when I feel stifled and want a change of scenery, I use my imagination. One of my favorite places to visit is the two dimensional world described in Edwin Abbott's mathematical fantasy, "Flatland." 这本一百多年以...  

焦建/文 上完中学的几何课程之后，除了对数学有兴趣的人，估计不会有太多人还对于平面和纬度产生兴趣。作为一种理解更加艰深知识的工具，这些概念被当做一种学习的跳板。我们都记得的公理是——点移动成线，线移动成面，面移动成体。立体图形成为学习的核心，除此之外，其他的...  

1、英国人的幽默感总是与众不同，埃德温·A·艾伯特1884年的《平面国》今天看起来仍然充满现实的讽喻，前半本整个就是个数学版本的《1984》，而且更加精干和一针见血。看到圆形教士镇压不规则形领导煽动等腰三角形起义，要求获得平等，觉得如此熟悉。 2、而后半本则提出了更宏...  

用户评价

科幻。但是温和地让人认识自己的局限，引导人开拓视野、转换思维方式，语言简洁生动，算是难得一见的好书。

奇点、恒星、质数，哪个更孤独？

虽然作者是个种族歧视又是个性别歧视，但却没想到自己的书对未来种族性别革命的预见性是如此的准确……

Martin Puchner介绍的一本非常有意思的小说涵盖了原始 Poiesis 的概念，以及以米尔顿的《失乐园》为最佳代表，世界文学概念形成当中 fantasy 与 world creation 作用。这也得以解释当代文学当中high literature 对于 Poesis 驱使的space sublime 类型的fantasy （而非传统Mimesis，如现实主义形式的）给予的越来越大的包容。而另一个极端的例子可以说是卡尔维诺的《看不见的城市》。

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