Search Worlds Without End

Flatland (1884) is an influential mathematical fantasy that simultaneously provides an introduction to non-Euclidean geometry and a satire on the Victorian class structure, issues of science and faith, and the role of women. A classic of early science fiction, the novel takes place in a world of two dimensions where all the characters are geometric shapes. The narrator, A Square, is a naïve, respectable citizen who is faced with proof of the existence of three dimensions when he is visited by a sphere and is forced to see the limitations of his world. The introduction to this Broadview Edition provides context for the book's references to Victorian culture and religion, mathematical history, and the history of philosophy. The appendices contain contemporary reviews; extracts from the work of fellow mathematical fantasy writer/mathematician Charles Hinton; Hermann von Helmboltz's "The Axioms of Geometry" (1870); and autobiographical passages from Abbott's The Kernel and the Husk (1886).

Sphereland: A Fantasy About Curved Spaces and an Expanding Universe is a 1965 translation of Bolland: een roman van gekromde ruimten en uitdijend heelal, a 1957 novel by Dionys Burger, and is a sequel to Flatland. The novel expands upon the social and mathematical foundations on which Flatland is based. It is markedly different from the first novel in that it has a more prosaic ending and treatment of society.

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.

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in If, March 1967. The story is included in the collections Neutron Star (1968), Crashlander (1994), and The Best of Larry Niven (2010).

Gil "The Arm" Hamilton was one of the top operatives of ARM, the elite UN police force. His intuition was unfailingly accurate; his detective skills second to none; and his psychic powers -- esper sense and telekinesis -- were awesome.

Tough and deadly, Gil Hamilton could reach right into a person's brain for the truth... or for the kill!

Read all the stories of the legendary ARM operative, collected here in one volume for the very first time.

Table of Contents:

• Death by Ecstasy (1969) - novella
• The Defenseless Dead (1973) - novelette
• ARM (1975) - novella
• Patchwork Girl (1980) - novel
• The Woman in Del Rey Crater - novelette
• Afterword - essay