Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin Abbot Abbot, published in 1884, is public domain. That means it has no copyright, and belongs to everyone.
This post will have links to as many versions and adaptations of it as I can find, and will be updated whenver I find new links to add.
Feel free to copy and paste this whole entire post and make it a new post for your own blog too!
None of these links are piracy, because you literally cannot pirate what has no copyright. Anyone who tells you you must pay to read the original Flatland is scamming you.
The only time you should be spending money on Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, is if you find a cool physical copy that you want specifically.
Check the original post before reblogging to look for updates if you are seeing this post days, weeks, or months after I originally post it.
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Visual books:
Public domain:
The Original Novel:
Read online or ownload the original book in multiple formats from Project Gutenberg
Read or download from Standard Ebooks
Read and download from the Internet Archive. This also includes a computer-generated audiobook.
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The 2024 translation:
Read online or download the 2024 translation in multiple formats from the Internet Archive. This also includes a computer-voiced audiobook.
Read the 2024 translation here on tumblr @flatland-a-2024-translation
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The 2024 Summary:
You can read and download this from the Internet Archive in multiple formats, including editable documents. Or read here on tumblr.
You can also buy a physical copy here, or purchase the files from Itch.io.
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Audiobooks:
The original novel:
Listen to the original book on the Internet Archive, read by Ruth Golding
Listen to the original book on the Internet Archive read by David "Grizzly" Smith
The 2024 translation:
Listen and read-along with the lazy audiobook of the 2024 translation on Youtube
(no audiobook available for the summary....yet)
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Free visual media with full stories:
Here’s an animation from 1965. Contains some flashing lights.
Here’s a stop motion film from 1982 in Italian with English subtitles
Here’s an animation from 2006
The 2007 Flatland film by Ladd Ehlinger is free on youtube. Unfortunately Ladd Ehlinger is a virulently racist and misogynistic conservative who thinks feeding school kids is the same thing as slavery. His film is filled with almost constant flashing lights and spinning cameras that cause headaches, motion sickness, migraines, and seizures.
Here is a link to timestamps for these if you still choose to watch it.
The film ignores all of the politics from the original novel because the creator of the film agrees with the bigotry the novel condemned. You are much better off watching another visual adaption or reading the original or translated book.
Especially if you suffer from photosensitivity or motion-sickness, this film will make you want to throw up.
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Shorter visual media:
In-universe
Part 4 of a Korean animation. from 2010. Haven't found parts 1-3 yet.
A short animation from 2020 showing an Equilateral being taken away from his Isosceles parents
Flatland Heist from 2013, A short animation from 2013 where the Narrator and Sphere team up to rob a bank :)
Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions Alternate Timeline (without audio yet) 2024 Here's the version with audio
No Nonbinary Door 2024
A Visit to Lineland 2024
Up, Up, and Away 2024
Meta:
A short TED-Ed summarizing the math parts of Flatland from 2014
Another short animation explaining the math of Flatland from 2012
A long presentation (38 mins) about the math in Flatland. from 2017
Youtube Shorts:
A very short animation about the narrator meeting the Sphere
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Related books by other authors, in publishing order:
Public domain:
An Episode of Flatland: or How a Plane Folk Discovered the Third Dimension. With Which is Bound Up an Outline of the History of Unæa by Charles Howard Hinton. (1907) Public domain, unlimited reading and downloading. It's terrible. But you can rewrite it to make it not terrible.
The 4D Doodler, by Graph Waldeyer. Also on Youtube as an audiobook.
Other copyright:
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics by Norton Juster (1963) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. A short....poem? Nothing to actually do with Flatland.
The Incredible Umbrella by Marvin Kaye (1980) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. I have not read it yet.
Sphereland: A Fantasy About Curved Spaces and an Expanding Universe, by Dionys Burger. (1983) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. It's racist. Was intended to be a sequel to Flatland, but the author's racist and failed every lesson Flatland tried to teach.
“Message Found in a Copy of Flatland” by Rudy Rucker (1983) free to read online from the author.
The Fourth Dimension, by Rudy Rucker (1984). Can be read for free online from the author. I have not read it yet.
The Planiverse: Computer Contact With a Two-dimensional World by Alexander Keewatin Dewdney (1984) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. Good 2D worldbuilding, nonexistant plot and boring abrupt ending.
Flatterland: Like Flatland, Only More So by Ian Stewart (2001) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. it's useless crap that unironically defends the bigotry against Irregulars from the original novel by pretending it's just natural selection that's totally natural and not at all artificialy and violently upheld to uphold the supremacy of the Circles.
Spaceland by Rudy Rucker (2002) Can be borrowed by 1 person at a time. I have not read it yet.
VAS: An Opera in Flatland (2002) by Steve Tomasula. no copies donated to the internet archive yet. I have not read it yet.
A 2024 Summary of Flatland. Buy a physical copy here. Buy a digital copy here.
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Neopronoun short stories:
The Breaking Point, a short story of a Line and Isosceles in another country of Flatland, attempting to deal with an abusive officer of the military who's invited himself into their home. Almost 4k words.
First Day of School, a young equilateral has zov first day at school, and discovers that the "specimen" they're supposed to be studying is someone zo knows.
Gaining a New Perspective, a short story of the Sphere contemplating everything that's happened after throwing the narrator of Flatland back down to his plane. Almost exactly 5k words.
Other short fiction:
[link me your stories and a short summary to go here!!]
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Please feel free to add more links and I'll add them to this original post.
Here's the first masterpost I made which has fewer links.
