Lindsay writes, “It’s from Edwin Abbott’s Flatland. The idea is that if your eye was one the same 2D plane, looking at the circle from the tip of the point on the right, you would actually perceive the 2D shape (the circle) as a 1D shape (the line). It’s a reminder for me that if you’re so entrenched in something, you won’t be able to see the big picture and, therefore, you should try to keep perspective.”
Flatland at Google Books. More at Wikipedia.
Carl Zimmer writes about science regularly for the New York Times and magazines such as Discover, where he is a contributing editor and columnist.
He is the author of six books, the most recent of which is Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life. His website is carlzimmer.com and his address is [ blog at carlzimmer dot com ].
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DISCOVERmagazine: Living World DISCOVER Blogs: Bad Astronomy
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
There are about 36 million chemical substances catalogued by Chemical Abstracts Services to date. Name one organic chemical with a Schlegel diagram possessing overlapping lines. The whole of organic chemistry - from methane to cubane to the most horrific natural products - stretches out exactly flat. It doesn’t have to be that way,
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/chiral2.gif
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/chiral3.gif