Books,

[Andy Tarpinian]

On Sep 23, 2008, at 10:59 AM, S. Brodsky wrote:

> I recommend Iain M Banks too. I believe I have read most of his books,
> including the non scifi books. You could call me a fan of some  
> degree. :)
>
> -- 

Oh just though of one I started recently - Flatland: A Romance of Many  
Dimensions - Edwin A. Abbott. It's a trip.

Seems to be available online pretty easily -

http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/~banchoff/Flatland/

And for some reason there seem to be a bunch of amateur movie versions.


an excerpt from the preface:

"The reason is obvious. Dimension implies direction, implies  
measurement, implies the more and the less. Now, all our lines are  
equally and infinitesimally thick (or high, whichever you like);  
consequently, there is nothing in them to lead our minds to the  
conception of that Dimension. No `delicate micrometer' - as has been  
suggested by one too hasty Spaceland critic - would in the least avail  
us; for we should not know what to measure, nor in what direction.  
When we see a Line, we see something that is long and bright;  
brightness, as well as length, is necessary to the existence of a  
Line; if the brightness vanishes, the Line is extinguished. Hence, all  
my Flatland friends - when I talk to them about the unrecognized  
Dimension which is somehow visible in a Line - say, `Ah, you mean  
brightness': and when I reply, `No, I mean a real Dimension,' they at  
once retort `Then measure it, or tell us in what direction it  
extends'; and this silences me, for I can do neither. Only yesterday,  
when the Chief Circle (in other words our High Priest) came to inspect  
the State Prison and paid me his seventh annual visit, and when for  
the seventh time he put me the question, `Was I any better?' I tried  
to prove to him that he was `high,' as well as long and broad,  
although he did not know it. But what was his reply? `You say I am  
"high"; measure my "highness" and I will believe you.' What could I  
do? How could I meet his challenge? I was crushed; and he left the  
room triumphant."


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