A book that lacked depth

Sometime I need to see a doctor and get an MRI to see what part of my brain comes up with titles for my posts.

I finished the novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott Abbott. While I first heard about the story a long time ago in the context of dimensions and their perception, I was actually inspired to pick up the book when it was listed at the end of Animal Farm's Wikipedia entry. It was mentioned as similar in being satirical of society. However, this connection is tenuous and I would never purpose a link between the works myself.

The story is about a two dimensional character called a Square. He relates his existence in a two dimensional world and what he has learned of other worlds that contain zero, one, and three dimensions. The commentary on Victorian society (the book was published in 1884) is done by transferring social values to the world of Flatland. Different classes of people are portrayed as different shapes with interaction rules between them. However, it is the experience and description of other dimensions that makes this book worth reading today.

This is a great library book. It is fun to go through once and the scenery is great for thinking about and describing other things. The two dimensional world of a Square is a wonderful place to imagine yourself. It's society is well developed.