tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7203456456963448254..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: the substantial realities of Flatland itself - Edwin Abbott's FlatlandAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66640850224639377802016-01-12T13:02:58.177-06:002016-01-12T13:02:58.177-06:00No, it is for the best. I am imagining my high sc...No, it is for the best. I am imagining my high school geometry teacher having to teach a Victorian satirical novel. Poor fellow. Maybe the pedagogical strategy is just to skip all of that stuff? Just go straight to the shapes.<br /><br />"<a href="http://www.philosophersguild.com/blog/?p=1871" rel="nofollow">when we asked them</a> [math teachers] less than half said they'd heard of it"<br /><br />There are several film versions, as in that link. Maybe young geometers get to see one of those. Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-87295475277765220672016-01-12T12:50:35.153-06:002016-01-12T12:50:35.153-06:00That is a real shame.That is a real shame.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-17609504832376493092016-01-12T12:36:11.300-06:002016-01-12T12:36:11.300-06:00Almost no one has read this book in school.Almost no one has read this book in school.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-5819353141210695332016-01-12T12:32:40.761-06:002016-01-12T12:32:40.761-06:00My 9th grade geometry class read Flatland. I guess...My 9th grade geometry class read <i>Flatland</i>. I guess I thought everyone had read this book in school.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-8779803077911528692016-01-12T10:47:05.841-06:002016-01-12T10:47:05.841-06:00Keeler, there's a name I had forgotten. A com...Keeler, there's a name I had forgotten. A compound interest gag - that's good for a math story.<br /><br />Scott, that is reading <i>Flatland</i>in the right spirit.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24084486169533716802016-01-12T08:32:47.307-06:002016-01-12T08:32:47.307-06:00My favorite mathematical fiction may be Harry Step...My favorite mathematical fiction may be Harry Stephen Keeler's short story "John Jones's Dollar." There are probably stories with more interesting math in them, but none with such Keeler wackiness. Here it is, if you're curious: http://site.xavier.edu/polt/keeler/etexts/dollar.html Doug Skinnerhttp://www.dougskinner.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-86740875191498864742016-01-12T07:54:14.222-06:002016-01-12T07:54:14.222-06:00Flatland maybe counts as the first "experimen...<i>Flatland</i> maybe counts as the first "experimental" novel I ever read; it succeeded wildly in offering up to this 14-year-old a vivid new conception of literature. I was bowled over by it to the point that I created my own little Flatland using cut out shapes and segments and dots.seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39294076352098760982016-01-10T17:03:32.833-06:002016-01-10T17:03:32.833-06:00Yes, the square has become a kind of fanatic, embr...Yes, the square has become a kind of fanatic, embracing martyrdom, whether in the service of science or religion, even he does not know. Patmore has had not had the Truth revealed in a vision, and is thus sensible.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-39267965771062911182016-01-10T14:15:20.426-06:002016-01-10T14:15:20.426-06:00Coventry Patmore was Abbott's contemporary. H...Coventry Patmore was Abbott's contemporary. He wrote a poem, <i>Magne Est Veritas</i> which echoes and opposes the end of <i>Flatland </i>in its attitude to martyrs for "the cause of Truth":<br /><br />For want of me the world's course will not fail:<br />When all its work is done, the lie shall rot;<br />The truth is great, and shall prevail,<br />When none cares whether it prevail or not.<br /><br />I can't tell which was written first, unfortunately.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-78184420409042521632016-01-10T13:21:41.591-06:002016-01-10T13:21:41.591-06:00"master's", not majesty's' ..."master's", not majesty's' grrr: the foibles of age!Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-47639548303829897832016-01-10T10:47:42.699-06:002016-01-10T10:47:42.699-06:00I was wondering if this book could mean anything t...I was wondering if this book could mean anything to people who can't see the geometry. I guess so. Good.<br /><br />Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-75994546250120818232016-01-10T09:52:22.370-06:002016-01-10T09:52:22.370-06:00Your review/comment reminds me of the speculative ...Your review/comment reminds me of the speculative alterations to laws of physics in S/F (e.g., 2001: A Space Odyssey in which gravity was "altered" as a centrifugal force on the rotation space station). Of course, I could be misremembering the example. And math has always baffled me. I could never get past the concept of functions in algebra. Yeah, I was that bad at math!RTDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17113953356514605424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-50742329932849783692016-01-10T02:51:05.968-06:002016-01-10T02:51:05.968-06:00It's a fascinating little book, isn't it? ...It's a fascinating little book, isn't it? I read it just over a year ago and while I didn't quite get all the maths, I loved the concept. And since Cosmicomics is one of my favourite Calvinos I guess that's inevitable!<br /><br />Kaggsysbookishramblings Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-20804287248276699142016-01-10T00:46:51.899-06:002016-01-10T00:46:51.899-06:00my dad gave me flatland when i was young. i loved ...my dad gave me flatland when i was young. i loved it but never could understand math. just finished "his majesty's voice"(lem)re a mathmetician engaged in attempting to decipher a message couched in a sliver of neutrino particles ; mostly re the philosophical and political machinations of the whole affair. probably lem's most brilliant book. he's an extraordinarily imaginative writer...Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.com