The Planiverse: Computer Contact with a Two Dimensional World (Picador Books)

When I was in high-school I had a very intelligent and immensely helpful English teacher, who taught me much of what writing skill I possess today. He came in highly excited one morning, to share with us about a new book he'd come across. Evidently, they had, through a computer, discovered an entirely new reality, that was two-dimensional! And this was an actual event, cutting edge stuff.Well, a few days later, he came in, quite chagrined, to tell us that, as he read further through the book, he realized it was a work of fiction. But his description had been interesting enough to motivate me to read the book.The Planiverse's reality is that real, and supported by that much scientific and mathematical principle- Dewdney has done his research, to bring us one of the most delightful what-ifs I've found. Imagine reality just like ours, but take out the third dimension. Everything is well supported, every area of life covered, and the drawings immensely helpful. You truly begin to feel for all the characters in the book. But it's not just an exercise in mathematical possibility. It is a rich story, telling of spiritual journey and insight, as Yendred travels to find his answers. And I still remember the ending as grippingly and eerily numinous, as we realize how closely the Planiverse and our Universe are connected, and how limited we are in comparison to the Eternal.

One of the greatest books of all-time. I don't want to over-sell it, so judge for yourselves. (heh) Seriously, this is probably the most complete fictional universe ever created. It reads like a dream and when it first came out (and I was a kid) I often wondered whether the events in the book had REALLY happened. It is that well constructed.Before it originally went out of print I bought two extra copies so that I'd never be without it, I honestly suggest you read it, and if you like it at all - do the same. It will never leave your mind, and you'll be happy about that.

I have to admit, I read this book primarily so that I could selfishly affirm what I thought of as my theory: that in two dimensions, gravity would be proportional to the inverse of distance, as opposed to the inverse square law we know and love. I was surprised and overwhelmed that Dewdney includes this observation as one among many, of which others are much more important. Dewdney crafts this discussion of two-dimensions by setting up a fictional university scenario and aside from addressing the implications of a 2D world, also adds the implications and disbelief that a discovery of this kind might cause on earth. The story is one for anyone who has thought about differences in dimension, and truly made me think about how simple, yet complex our world would seem to a four dimensional being. Dewdney even includes an appendix of distinct ramifications of two-dimensions on different fields of science. (Maybe the fact that every reviewer so far has given this book five stars means something... GO READ IT!)

Once every hundred years or so, a new reality is discovered. In 1884 Edwin Abbott's classic, Flatland, captured readers' imaginations with and ingenious excursion into a two-dimensional society. Now, a century later, Dr. Alexander Keewatin Dewdney, a theoretical computer scientist, takes us on an exciting journey through and an amazingly complex, self-consistent two-dimensional universe. The Planiverse combines science and speculation, technology and metaphysics, in an astonishing work of the imagination that is elegant, witty, and wonderful. Dr. Dewdney created a hypothetical two-dimensional universe as an exercise for his computer science students. They developed a program called 2DWORLD to model a detailed, although somewhat primitive, planet. then one day in May 1980, something extraordinaty happened. One of the creatures began to use a word not in the computer's vocabulary--YNDRD. And as the simple graphics generated by the program grew more detailed, a strange four-armed creature appeared, surrounded by a bizarre alien landscape. Somehow, the 2DWORLD program had conected with a real two-dimensional world. the creature who appeared became known as yendred, a youthful inhabitant of Arde, a planet somewhere inside the planiverse. And so began a fantstic odyssey into a two-dimensional world--as Dr. Dewdney and his students followed Yendred on a journey across Arde, sharing his adventures, learning his history, and discussing his philosophy. With over 125 illustrations and diagrams generated from Arde, The Planiverse is a record of that contact period--the computer-aided exploration of a new reality--complete with its own physics, chemisty, biology, philosophy, and civilization. Join Yendred and Dr. Dewdney and discover new possibilities and concepts that will change the way you look at your own world. (This is one of the best books I have ever read. I stayed up late many a night reading it, totally engrossed. I became attached to the characters, I saw the whole world that is The Planiverse through the illustrations. I was dissapointed when the book had to end, I wish it could have gone on longer.)

This book is simply amazing. It tells the story of YNDRD, a two-dimensional being who makes contact with people on Earth through a computer program based on a hypothetical 2-D world. The tale is written as a summary of the computer-aided correspondence between Prof. Dewdney and his colleagues and the so-called "planiverse", with excerpts of the dialogue as it was received on the computer print-out. Immense detail is given to the descriptions of the way of life on the two-dimensional planet, including technology, government and law, music, sports, science, and even religion. Religion was, in fact, one of the aspects which gave me extra admiration for the book and its author, because it explores not only the religion of the Nsana (as the flat people call themselves), but religion in general, giving insight into a scientific and somewhat objective view of religion. The story and its forays into alien culture are heightened in effect by the great illustrations, and the technical sections which go into the most detail about 2-D life. I say again, this book is simply amazing, and conclude with a recommendation to all interested in bizarre creatures, science, or just really good books.