I am reading Planiverse.

[phantom power]

It's a really fun book. One thing that surprised me is how remarkably hard it is to think 2-dimensionally. By that I mean, think with proper intuition about what is possible, or impossible, in a truly two-dimensional universe. We are wired to think intuitively about having 3 dimensions to work with.

For example: a few things that are impossible in the Planiverse are knots, axels, saws, nails and screws. On the other hand, rope will never, ever get tangled. Can't happen!

[Fumesucker]

1. Not quite the first time it's been done..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland

[phantom power]

2. Planiverse bears not much resemblence to Flatland.

Planiverse is more of an attempt to construct a faithful 2D analog of our 3D physics, and explore what that might mean for cosmology, chemistry, biology, geology, orbital dynamics, culture, etc.

No doubt, Planiverse is just one of several works inspired by the original Flatland.

[Fumesucker]

3. Interesting..

My reading list gets longer every time I log onto this forum lately it seems..

I became a daddy in 1980 and didn't have a lot of time for reading for many years, Planiverse was published in 1984 and I completely missed it..

[phantom power]

4. Yeah, I get about 1 hour each night for reading. Maybe.

I used to burn through two or three books every week. Back in my swinging bachelor days. Now it's more like two or three a month.