"When you read this book, keep two things in mind. First, it was written back in 1880, when relativity had not yet been invented, when quantum theory was not yet discovered, when only a handful of mathematicians had the courage (yet) to challenge Euclid and imagine curved space geometries and geometries with infinite dimensionality. As such, it is an absolutely brilliant work of speculative mathematics deftly hidden in a peculiar but strangely amusing social satire.

Second, its point, even about itself, is still as apropos today as it was then. We still do not really know what the true dimensionality of the Universe is. It seems somehow unlikely that it is just "four", even in terms of spacetime dimensions. String theory talks seriously about thousands of dimensions. Quantum theory implements very seriously infinite numbers of dimensions. And yet we are still stuck in our 3 space dimensions mentally, hardly able to visualize the 4 in which we live "properly" unless we study theoretical physics for a decade or three, and utterly unable to mentally imagine those four embedded in a veritable Hilbert's Grand Hotel of dimensions.

Ultimately, this is a book about keeping an open mind. A really open mind -- avoiding the trap of scientific materialism and the trap of theistic idealism and the trap of any other favorite -ism you might come up with. Our entire visible space-time continuum could be nothing more than a single thin page in an infinitely thick book of similar pages, that book one of an infinite number of similar books on an infinite shelf, that shelf but one such shelf in an infinite bookcase of shelves, that bookcase but one in an infinite library of bookcases, that library but one... but by now you get the idea.

We have a hard time opening our minds up to the enormous range of possibilities, preferring to live our lives mentally trapped in a single tiny period on just one of those pages, in pointland. We may be quite unable to actually perceive the space in which our tiny point is embedded, but our minds are capable of conceiving it, and Abbot's lovely parable is a mind-expanding work to those who choose to read it that way.

rgb"

"tell me who cries whilst reading feminist & lesbian theory ? well me for some reason :) "

"This essay changed my life and should be required reading for all women regardless of sexuality. It makes me so sad to think about how much lesbian history has been erased and how much invalidation lesbians still face in a patriarchal, heteronormative society, and how many lesbians are out there who don't know and will never know because compulsory heterosexuality and internalized homophobia is so strong.

Rich asserts that compulsory heterosexuality is not innate or natural or a choice, but rather a political institution that serves to maintain gender inequalities and misogynistic social constructs. It focuses on the lesbian experience in particular and the specific shared struggles of overcoming compulsory heterosexuality, but I think even heterosexual women who are quite confident in that identity and have never questioned it could probably learn and understand a lot about their personal attraction to men, the various power relations in their lives, and their oppression and objectification in different contexts due to pressures from society to form, value, and prioritize relationships with men above all others.

My one complaint is her use of the term "lesbian" to encompass all female relationships as the term is already so misused and misunderstood. Another issue is that it's obviously outdated and exclusive of the experiences of bisexual and trans women. There's also a problematic bit in there about gay men, but I think the point of that was to reiterate that the lesbian experience is entirely different from theirs, so it shouldn't be lumped together as it frequently has.

Overall, this is a really important and groundbreaking piece that helped me understand my identity as a lesbian woman in ways I never thought about previously, and inspired me to seek out more of Rich's work and lesbian-feminist literature."