On Flatland

I first read this in undergrad and picked it up again after Death’s End. What had been lost on me the first time was how much of it is social criticism of Victorian England—the first half is an overview of Flatland, and the rigidity of its social roles, and the absurd arbitrariness of how they’re assigned, is hard to miss. The second half moves through Lineland, Flatland, Sphereland, and Pointland, and that’s where it gets at the three-plus-one visual dimensions humans live in. That second half is genuinely interesting, even if the little book is something of a slog to get through.