Flatland - By Edwin A Abbott [full audiobook] read by James Langton

[@Panda_Roll]

The Book of Bill brought me here, Thanks Alex Hirsch!

[@ilikeindigo]

same

[@prageruwu69]

hell yeah

[@tisibutasimplechocopancook7923]

"This omnividence... does it make you more just, more merciful, less selfish, more loving? Not in the least. Then how does it make you more divine?" holy shittttt

[@nova-witchwood]

that’s actually an amazing quote

[@tallesrodrigues5994]

The 2009 movie just happened to pop up on my homepage the other day, and I eventually discovered the 80s version, then the 60s version, and now I find out that all of these versions are based on a book that is over 100 years old. Now that's what I call "falling down the rabbit hole" lol

[@sewinmusewynn6957]

where did you find the 80's version? i cant find it anywhere and i wanna see what their take on this whole thing is

[@jessefinnegan1719]

It is amazing how something over 100 years old could be so accurate a way to define our own interactions with higher dimensions. When he describes the third dimension of flat land as 'being infinitesimally small' it reminded me how I once heard how some scientists theorize that the 4th dimension interacts with us on scales smaller than atoms.

[@kindaovermyhead]

Maybe that fourth, infinitesimally small dimension is our present moment in time.

[@jessefinnegan1719]

@@kindaovermyhead That very well could be.

[@wingedfeline5379]

@@kindaovermyheadno, the fourth spatial dimension and dimension of time are two completely separate things

[@Eldagusto]

So this is the legendary Flatland. Abbott was a genius, he has developed such a robust faculty for abstraction, I can’t imagine what he would be able to think up benefiting from modern a modern age.

[@keirstynkat]

Part I -- This World: 0:00 Section 1 - Of the Nature of Flatland: 0:27 Section 2 - Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland: 5:04 Section 3 - Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland: 10:11 Section 4 - Concerning the Women: 17:32 Section 5 - Of our Methods of Recognizing one another: 29:12 Section 6 - Of Recognition by Sight: 40:45 Section 7 - Concerning Irregular Figures: 52:08 Section 8 - Of the Ancient Practice of Painting: 59:56 Section 9 - Of the Universal Colour Bill: 1:06:33 Section 10 - Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition: 1:14:46 Section 11 - Concerning our Priests: 1:24:30 Section 12 - Of the Doctrine of our Priests: 1:30:53 Part II - Other Worlds: 1:42:02 Section 13 - How I had a Vision of Lineland: 1:42:09 Section 14 - How I vainly tried to explain the nature of Flatland: 1:52:33 Section 15 - Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland: 2:05:19 Section 16 - How the Stranger vainly endeavoured to reveal to me in words the mysteries of Spaceland: 2:13:08 Section 17 - How the Sphere, having in vain tried words, resorted to deeds: Section 18 - How I came to Spaceland, and what I saw there: Section 19: How, though the Sphere shewed me other mysteries of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it: 2:49:36 Section 20 - How the Sphere encouraged me in a Vision: 3:05:48 Section 21 - How I tried to teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to my Grandsons, and with what success: 3:13:25 Section 22 - How I then tried to diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by other means, and of the results: 3:19:34 Study Resource: www.coursehero.com/lit/Flatland/

[@samsveryniceaccount9258]

Thank you!

[@djb9267]

Thank you very much. Do you have a opinion on this book?

[@keirstynkat]

@@djb9267 yeah i loved this book

[@djb9267]

@@keirstynkat Any other thoughts?

[@caseclosed9342]

I first heard about this book in school when I was a kid and I watched the movie version in school. Also, in youth Sunday School in my church I remember we watched a video sermon by Rob Bell about this book (which now makes sense after listening to it and looking up the author and finding out he was a theologian, although I don’t remember much about the video sermon). Recently I heard someone mention Flatland in a podcast and I decided to listen to it. For starters, I was a little taken aback by how oppressive the world of Flatland is. It’s like a combination of Oceania (from 1984), the earth from Planet of the Apes, Saudi Arabia and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan (the last two because of how they treat women). I know it’s interesting about the dimensions, but the social science is spot on. Definitely enjoyed this book. Also, shout out to the narrator for changing “reader” to “listener” to match the audiobook format.

[@Jmorris3265]

I keep dipping in and out of an existential crisis, starting at anything in particular and running through the whole concept, and it’s at once maddeningly logical and maddeningly beyond my reach.

[@sheilarikas]

Flatland is like one of those movies that can only be understood of you watch it a second time.

[@lunarcod7187]

Remember Euclidia

[@Sashazur]

Assuming flatland has atmospheric effects and light sources, that would make it easier to be able to do things like, say, distinguish a circle from a triangle. The circle would get smoothly brighter or darker in a gradient towards its ends, whereas the triangle would (depending on the direction it’s facing), look like one or two lines where each line has a different single brightness.

[@peterkemp8633]

Brilliant, really enjoyed this, completely nothing like i expected, excellently read. Many thanks for uploading this, all the best

[@thenaptaker4124]

I dont even care about bill cypher anymore. This book is just so darn interesting. Ive seen the movie countless times

[@sheilarikas]

I agree sm lol. I first heard about it in the Gravity Falls fandom so I watched the movie since I found it interesting. Now I'm listening to the book🙂

[@princessregime]

@@sheilarikas I have never watched gravity falls or know anything of bill cypher but I came across a video about how he was born irregular and flatland is his home dimension. Just finished the movie and now I’m here !

[@sheilarikas]

@@princessregime I recommend watching it. It's a good show with a lot of mysteries.

[@MannyKunV]

i remember in high school for a math class out teacher assigned us this book to read. i dont know what he was thinking because no one in the class understood wtf the book was saying (nor did anyone care, teenagers duh) and everyone had an F in the class if it helps to mention, every other math class he had also had like F's - D's. when i had to take summer class for failing one of his math classes, i passed with an A+ because the summer school teacher explained everything so clear. im more than certain the problem wasnt the math course, but the teacher himself. as far as i know he kept his job for years.

[@someniam8021]

Why on earth would this be taught in a math class?! It wasn't meant to be a math book!

[@MannyKunV]

@@someniam8021 idk something about mathematical probability and limitations since we were learning about geometry and how distance were measured. Like I said, looking back at it, he was a lousy teacher

[@TogetherAxe]

I doubt everyone failed like you said. Teachers are graded by how well the students do in there class.

[@MannyKunV]

@@TogetherAxe if you dont count the D's. at least 90% of everyone did fail. i know that because we all had summer school. i even saw people from other classes i wasnt in, in other summer school sessions or heard them talk about having to go to it

[@nova-witchwood]

@@someniam8021I know right? If it was philosophy or English then perhaps, but MATH? It’s something that’d appeal to a math-lover, but it won’t truly help a math student.

[@blenky5516]

What have I gotten myself into

[@3rdieye3]

Don't catch the case of the giggles.... their contagious

[@TheQwaggs]

No shit

[@chadocracy]

A veritable effort to understand the 4th dimension

[@houseofblues9016]

😂

[@houseofblues9016]

❤

[@BulletB]

Chapter 1 0:27 Chapter 7 52:00 Chapter 8 59:55 Chapter 9 1:06:33 Chapter 10 1:14:45 Chapter 11

[@tostybread2792]

2:31:15 2:32:06 I tried explaining this book to others, and they didn't understand.

[@danielrivera9060]

1984 with shapes

[@WaySouMuch]

No because my anxiety brought me here. And I thank it. This rabbit hole is cozy fr.

[@billybobbjo]

How does this only have 700 likes

[@tisibutasimplechocopancook7923]

what horror there must be to any 2d shape that can see the 3rd dimension. pressing up against everything, all consuming, infinitely large in comparison to the entirety of your entire world (which has been reduced to something infinitely small). the impossibility of ever moving into it, casting your perception of freedom into a new light, in which you recognize you will only ever move in an infinitesimally small fragment of the universe. not to mention the fact that it's inherently impossible to fully comprehend to someone that's 2d, meaning you'd be unable to explain what you're seeing to anyone else. an infinity crushing your flat reality, never actually compressing it but visually swallowing it. i often wonder if a human can ever truly VISUALIZE the 4th dimension. with enough understanding of physics, of space, enough imagination-- is it even possible? or is it unknowable, like trying to invent a new color. i partially think it'd be incredible to comprehend something so alien and unique. but i have to wonder-- would it be terrifying? would it be isolating, would it be an unfathomable horror? no matter what, you'd never be able to look at anything the same way again.

[@lindinle]

From what i can gather, its easy to understand. A 2d box can hold 2d water. A 3d box can hold 3d water. And so on. A 3d box would have holes we cant perceive so 4d water would leak out. To us looking like the water draining out an unseen box side sized hole. But if you held a 4d cup, you would have to have a 4d being rotate the cup for you so the mouth of the cup would be in our "slice" of the 3d 4d cross section.

[@lindinle]

Or like this. Imagine one big room. Now section it into 4 even sized rooms. With big holes that you can walk through to get from room to room. Now in 4d there would be more than the 4 rooms, when passing from the 4th to what would be the 1st room you end up in a different room.

[@tisibutasimplechocopancook7923]

@@lindinle right, i know all that. but that's not a visual of the fourth dimension, that's how a fourth dimensional figure would appear in the third dimension, or how it behaves conceptually. neither of those are an actual visual, and neither of those would make actually seeing the fourth dimension easier to explain

[@lindinle]

@@tisibutasimplechocopancook7923 but if you understand the idea of it you can infer what it might look like. To us limited by 3 dimensions if we made this shape it would look like a weird abstract art sculpture.

[@tisibutasimplechocopancook7923]

@@lindinle right, and that weird abstract art sculpture WOULDN'T look 4D. just like the weird series of lines and shadows to a flatlander wouldn't look 3D. idk how else to explain this

[@coachedem6234]

I think this book should be listened to more than 3 times😅

[@poopiecon1489]

haha yeah

[@FernandoHernandez-go5tz]

This is one of few books I have read multiple times.

[@Hellspawner06]

The way I just gave an acute triangle the side eye

[@notthat8163]

Damn this man is racist against triangles

[@tealeafmissile4849]

the dude pretty much managed to project eugenics onto dimensions and geometry. what a madlad.

[@rezzer7918]

Not even funny, ah.

[@rezzer7918]

​@@tealeafmissile4849 dimwit

[@xvydia]

What a square dude

[@eyesolatedrock]

Shape-ist

[@hidarkheart]

I’ve gotten too invested.

[@domdom_0522]

it makes sense yet at the same time it makes no sense

[@anneshirley9560]

Couldn't have explained it better myself.

[@lilgirlHa]

Thank you for sharing this

[@rezzer7918]

ICONIC! Superb narration! FANTASTIC!

[@simonesewero9405]

so cool ✨❤️✨

[@anaitm8103]

who else is here because of the book of bill

[@anaitm8103]

i did not expect to be this invested in geometry eugenics

[@nova-witchwood]

I visited this place again because of it, but I actually found Gravity Falls through Flatland! So yeah, I’m here because of Bill!

[@anaitm8103]

@@nova-witchwood oh wow! welcome to gravity falls then :)

[@francescos7361]

Love this book

[@Runzhe7]

Good book

[@Jeakkers]

A Sphere is Sooooo Fine

[@billybobbjo]

Real

[@olddecimal2736]

Juicy and not Finite. :)

[@IHadAWeirdDreamLastNight]

This is great to sleep to

[@AmethystGamer-z8p]

Well i know im a nerd now i want to play a game that takes place in flatland

[@lilal58]

Life will be beautiful once you release yourself from bondage. I’m cheering you on 💗💗💗

[@rockyblocky_guy1244]

"Bondage"? 😳

[@eggi4443]

​@@rockyblocky_guy1244 freakyyy

[@marmarbinkz7051]

This 3.5 hour video felt like an hour and a half

[@Vadiniful]

Who is here because of The Orville 😊

[@AnonFerri_SGC]

I’m in love

[@panda_commanda]

gravity falls it is good to be back

[@ShadowOoOwalker]

By what method are the irregular shapes painlessly and mercifully consumed? What entity does the consumption?

[@lindinle]

Yeah....he says that but dosent elaborate on what he means....

[@lindinle]

@@ShadowOoOwalker if he says some irregular people are dribbling animals. It sounds like a form of death by pahrana but instead of fish its a special needs class.

[@Writing-With-Dyslexia]

2:46:00

[@eathr349]

Didn't know Lovecraft knew math

[@sourmilk1180]

29:15

[@grimbb9358]

Came here after the book of bill

[@JasperJune]

2:25:28 for me

[@marmalade..]

5:07 pg 10

[@EdwinRiveraTheOneThatGotAway]

Aha!

[@romantra1311]

2:12:08 Marker

[@foolsenigma]

Me at the start: wow flatland! I loved that movie i should get into the book too Me like 20 minutes in: fuck this guy for real and actual (Edit: a square, not the author. I know this is a social commentary)

[@marynunn1708]

Read Flatland in paperback back in the 90’s. As a Christian I became immediately aware of how my insides, particularly my heart, was nakedly exposed to my spotless blameless Savior. I also related to how and why He was rejected by the Jewish leaders and ultimately crucified for being the equivalent of a “sphere in Flatland”. Now I see the beauty of John 3:16. Once you’ve seen Spaceland, you can’t unsee it. Thank you Professor Abbott for such a beautiful illustration. ❤

[@nil0bject]

does it not also explain that your "Savior" is not a subject of worship? But just another entity on a higher dimension, with entities higher than that in other dimensions....

[@DavidFletcher08]

​@@nil0bjectOr even worse the king of point land in a matter of different light lol

[@googoogaagaayt]

God isn't really funny that you believe in this fictional character

[@anaitm8103]

..did you miss the part where they talk about how the higher dimension beings are not any more divine than anyone else?

[@valletas]

​@@googoogaagaaythe is talking about jesus being crucified But man he sounds dangerously close to gnotscism with is also a belife with had jesus as a higher being as a creature born from eloheim to show humanity that god yaldabaoth creator of the physical world was not the true god at all

[@DanTheMoonMan.]

That was… something

[@Marcy53Volkswagen]

poor flatlander enjoyers/fans getting a sleepover with gravity falls enjoyers/fans

[@DavidFletcher08]

Rip bill

[@idiotbrainsjuice]

rip euclydia

[@EricDavidRocks]

spews instead of shews? who directed this? ick

[@EricDavidRocks]

not should be new, p 33 "now have to be sacrificed"

[@connordoody1812]

What?@@EricDavidRocks

[@nardo218]

bad. starts off with a very confused over-explanation of dimenstional mathematics; devolves into an invel screed about how to keep "females" in their place

[@FernandoHernandez-go5tz]

You obviously didn't understand.

[@k.d.kelley2830]

It was written in the 19th century, what did you expect? 😂 Also, "invel screed" is wild 😭

[@colelevel2654]

it's a satire. The whole point is that back when this was written there was a whole lot of sexism and the author is trying to say that it's ridiculous to treat women that way. Then he goes on to satirize the social classes and racism of the time. However the math stuff definitely is nerdy and if you can't get into it you really just can't get into it.

[@memehi8081]

Wow, the reading comprehension is not here.

[@patrickthebunny2626]

thats how it was fucking written you LINE

[@princessregime]

1:15:59 bookmark

[@forg7430]

1:35:00