Flatterland by Ian Stewart, Macmillan/Perseus, 拢14.99, ISBN
0333783123
IN 1884, head teacher Edwin Abbott wrote Flatland, a classic of
scientific popularisation about a curious two-dimensional world inhabited by
geometric figures. The author communicated the concept of a space of more than
three dimensions by inviting them to imagine how a flatlander would react to the
outrageous suggestion of a third dimension.
Flatterland is a modern sequel in which two-dimensional teenager
Victoria (Vikki) Line leaves home after a family row accompanied by a very
intelligent bouncing Space Hopper who acts as her mentor.
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With its help, she begins to explore the structure of space, time and matter.
Vikki envisages the strange creatures and objects in the worlds she visits with
the aid of a Virtual Unreality Engine. And they are the most curious of
creatures: the one-sided Moobius Cow has her tail attached to her nose to keep
her milk in a Klein bottle. The two-holed doughnut鈥攐r
doughmouse鈥攖ransforms into a teapot. Superpaws is Schr枚dinger鈥檚 cat,
so is dead and alive at the same time. The Charming Construction Entity, in its
metaspacial office, builds a spinning black hole with two tentacles, uses six
others for office duties and stirs its tea with the tip of its ninth.
An enjoyable, quirky and entertaining book, Flatterland communicates
fundamental concepts of modern mathematics and physics to the general reader
most effectively.