Flatland by Edward Abbott Abbott - Booked by the Cover

Welcome to the Book by the Cover Blog(cast), a spin on a podcast that I'm not currently able to record or-well-cast.

Today's book is titled: Flatland. It's by the author, Edward Abbott Abbott and was originally published in 1884.

I've already broken the rules a bit by reading into the plot and such, but-no worries. That's all already pretty well covered by the originally published version of the book anyway.

Now for a description of the front cover:

It's tan. There is text well integrated with mathematically-themed illustrations and notations all in thin black line and text. At the top, the title and a short description of the book are among what seems to be a very nimbus cloud. Shortly below, are the author's name in parenthesis with "by A Square" just above that.

On the sides (not to include the spine), are the mathematical references mentioned earlier. To the left there are a dot and a square, not so surprisingly. To the right, are a line and a cube. With the particular image I have, I am unfortunately not able to read the corresponding words below, but the words above each icon refer to the number of dimensions had by each. The dot has no dimensions, the line has one dimension, the square has two dimensions, and the cube has three. 

On the bottom half of the the cover, you'll find a pentagon-shaped blueprint presented with a compass rose the left. Below that are a quote and what appears to be the name of the publisher in all capital letters, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. The quote reads: "And therefore as a stranger give it welcome." Now would be a good time to share the quote at the top: "O dey and night, but this is wondrous strange".

The blueprint has some words that are legible and other that are not. In the middle of the pentagon-shaped structure, is what is labeled at "the hall" and sharing space with the label, "My Wife". Along the outsides are groups of rooms labeled "my sons". There is an opening to that space, which is the only door of the structure, labeled "men's door". In the bottom right corner is a med-large sized room labeled as "the cellar". All of the other descriptions are illegible. Along with the words are more shapes, circles and triangles. 

Now for suggesting travel, study, and right/write bookings inspired by the description given above:

Well, there's the Pentagon in Washington, DC as a travel option. There are guided tours of the Pentagon available. And there's also a memorial dedicated to the plane crash there on September, 11th. That might serve as a little recognition of the cloud on the cover. Planes mingle up there with the clouds. But I'm, of course, curious to see if there are any museums that might reflect the cover well as well. 

(searching, searching, searching)

There IS a Flatland Gallery in Houston, Texas. However, it is not a museum. It is a little "out there" and quite odd though, so it might be a good fit for the conceptual nature of the book which is also quite.. odd. Now, that makes two travel bookings. Let's find a third and then move over into matching them with the study and right bookings. I am focused on the description in the nimbus cloud: "A Romance of many Dimensions". Let's see if we can make this into a road trip and stop a theater that does a good number of romance shows. Ideally, the theater would be between Houston and DC.

(map referencing, searching, searching)

I found a theater in Knoxville, Tennessee. It's not a dramatic theater like I was imagining; it's a musical theater. But! That's even better. Music vibes better with the mathematical nature of the book and the elements on the cover. And I just noticed they have musical theater there a well. Perfect. So, that would probably be better as a lackadaisical full week of a road trip. With serendipitous food days on Tuesday and Thursday-leaving the activities for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Starting in DC might be best. 

To increase the chances of catching a show in he middle of the week, I'll take some time to look up other theaters along the way. This might end up being a great fit for the messaging of the quotes: "day and night" and "stranger give it welcome". YES! Baton Rouge, Chattanooga (ha, chat-a-new-ga/guy), Birmingham, and Roanoke should have good options to offer. 

Well that's it for this take on the cover of Flatland.

Please take care and do reach out for help planning study and right bookings.