What a wild premise. If you thought Flatland was kind of cool but kind of stupid, this is Flatland if the author actually really thought about it... like really thought about it. Ideas for two-dimensional physics, biology, mechanics, games, social customs, and theology. Plot? Not so much. But who needs plot when you can find out how digestion works in two-dimensional animals! ( )

Of course this book begs comparisons to Flatland...though not as well known as that famous romp through a world with only two dimensions, I believe this book is much better. Dewdney put a lot of thought in the way a civilization must necessarily be set up in a two-dimensional world - how will the laws of physics affect these creatures and their world? How can a two-dimensional creature have a digestive tract without being cut in half? How to pass each other in the street? How to build a dwelling that can be easily maneuvered through? This book asked and answered questions before I even thought of them, and truly expanded the way I thought about the 2nd - and of course, the 3rd and 4th - dimension, as well as tackling ideas about philosophy, evolution, and intelligent ingenuity.

If you were intrigued by Flatland, read this book. Your imagination will thank you. ( )

Inspired by Flatland, Planiverse is a work of fantasy, or mathematics, or science, intended (in part) to solve the mind problem of how life and technology could work in a two dimensional universe. Planiverse was written in the mid-1980s by a colleague of my father's at the University of Western Ontario whose Wikipedia entry amusingly describes him as a "Canadian mathematician, computer scientist, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist". I don't know how the 1980s computer stuff translates to 21st century readers, but I learned computing with DOS and those green on black screens. Nostalgia. ( )

Even though I find the concept of this book super interesting, the book itself just bored me immensely. The same happened with Flatland, the original "two-dimensional universe" narrative. In both cases, I found the framing gimmick gimmicky, the prose tedious, and the math of the thing explained dryly and without clever insight. Maybe it's just me.

Indeholder "Foreword: 2Dworld", "Arde", "A House by the Sea", "On Fiddib Har", "Walking to Is Felblt", "City Below Ground", "The Trek", "The Punizlan", "Institute", "Traveling on the Wind", "High on Dahl Radam", "Drabk the Sharak of Okbra", "Higher Dimensions", "Appendix", " Two-dimensional Science and Technology", " Physics", " Chemistry", " Planetary science", " Astronomy", " Technology", "Acknowledgments".

Bogen fortæller en rammehistorie om et computerkursus, hvor et program kaldet 2DWorld bliver anvendt til at simulere en 2-dimensionel verden. Tre af de studerende, Winston Chan, Hugh Lambert, Alice Little, gør det til et sommerprojekt at videreudvikle 2DWorld. Flere studerende kommer til i næste semester og simuleringen er nu ret omfattende. Atmosfære, have og en landoverflade med dyr og halvintelligente væsener er nu en del af det og den simulerede verden har også fået et navn Astria.
En dag begynder deres program til at kommunikere med Astria at opføre sig mærkeligt. Der kommer beskeder fra en YNDRD. Deres simulerede 2-d verden er kommet i synk med en rigtig 2-d verden Arde.

En slags uofficiel efterfølger til Abbott: Flatland. De uofficielle efterfølgere til den her er Ian Stewart': Flatterland og Dionys Burger: Sphereland. Samme genre som Donald E. Knuth: Surreal Numbers. Og på samme måde er rammehistorien både klistret og påklistret. ( )