Ian Stewart is a mathematician, science writer, and emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick.
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Edwin Abbott Abbott’s Flatland uses a two-dimensional world to explain higher dimensions while satirizing the class and gender hierarchies of Victorian England.
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Ian Stewart is a British mathematician, popular science writer, and emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick. He is the author of numerous books on mathematics and science, including Flatterland, The Annotated Flatland, and Does God Play Dice?, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2001.
Publications by this author
Flatterland
Like Flatland, Only More So
Perseus Publishing | 2021
In 1884, Edwin A. Abbott published a brilliant novel about mathematics and philosophy that charmed and fascinated all of England. As both a witty satire of Victorian society and a means by which to explore the fourth dimension, Flatland remains a tour de force. Now, British mathematician and accomplished science writer Ian Stewart has written a fascinating, modern sequel to Abbott's book. Through larger-than-life characters and an inspired story line, Flatterland explores our present understanding of the shape and origins of the universe, the nature of space, time, and matter, as well as modern geometries and their applications. The journey begins when our heroine, Victoria Line, comes upon her great-great-grandfather A. Square's diary, hidden in the attic. The writings help her to contact the Space Hopper, who becomes her guide and mentor through eleven dimensions. Along the way, we meet Schrödinger’s Cat, The Charming Construction Entity, The Mandelblot (who lives in Fractalia), and Moobius the one-sided cow. In the tradition of Alice in Wonder-land and The Phantom Toll Booth, this magnificent investigation into the nature of reality is destined to become a modern classic.
The New Mathematics of Chaos
Wiley-Blackwell | March | 2002
The revised and updated edition includes three completely new chapters on the prediction and control of chaotic systems. It also incorporates new information regarding the solar system and an account of complexity theory. This witty, lucid and engaging book makes the complex mathematics of chaos accessible and entertaining.
- Presents complex mathematics in an accessible style.
- Includes three new chapters on prediction in chaotic systems, control of chaotic systems, and on the concept of chaos.
- Provides a discussion of complexity theory.
A Romance of Many Dimensions
Basic Books | July | 2008
Flatland is a unique, delightful satire that has charmed readers for over a century. Published in 1884 by the English clergyman and headmaster Edwin A. Abbott, it is the fanciful tale of A. Square, a two-dimensional being who is whisked away by a mysterious visitor to The Land of Three Dimensions, an experience that forever alters his worldview.
Like the original, Ian Stewart’s commentary takes readers on a strange and wonderful journey. With clarity and wit, Stewart illuminates Abbott’s numerous Victorian references and touches on such diverse topics as ancient Babylon, Karl Marx, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Mt. Everest, H.G. Wells, and phrenology. The Annotated Flatland makes fascinating connections between Flatland and Abbott’s era, resulting in a classic to rival Abbott’s own, and a book that will inspire and delight curious readers for generations to come.
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