SOURCE: Kanigel, Robert. “ReReading.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (9 May 1982): 3.

In the following review, Kanigel praises Abbott's commentary on mathematical theory and social issues in Flatland.

You and I live in three dimensions. The would-be author of Flatland, identified in the original edition only as “A square,” lives in two. His tale—a provocative, always lively blend of science fiction, pure mathematics and social satire—recounts his discovery of the third dimension, and his fate at the hands of his fellow Flatlanders for daring to tell about it.

Flatland could so easily have been just another clever idea amateurishly executed, like a sophomore's strained efforts at “creative” writing; instead, it's a virtuoso performance. What makes it so satisfying a century later is not the idea itself so much as how well it's realized. Imagined details of its world are worked out with great clarity and precision. The range...