An Early Science Fiction Novel that is still Educational and Enjoyable
"Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows—only hard with luminous edges—and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. " ― Edwin A. Abbott, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbot is a curious work of science and mathematical fiction. In the novel, the narrator named A. Square is a mathematician and resident of the two-dimensional Flatland. In Flatland, women are thin, straight lines (the lowliest of shapes), and men may have any number of sides, depending on their social status.