Unflattening

Sousanis references a moment in Abbot’s Flatland in which the square and the sphere travel to an abyss and encounter “its sole inhabitant, a solipsistic monarch at once his own world and his own universe” (Location 100). While the square and sphere try to make the monarch aware of their presence, he lacks the imagination to conceive of anyone outside of himself. Sousanis posits that the imagination is the fifth dimension, as it allows us to bridge the gulf between others and ourselves. While we can never know what it is like to be someone else or experience their “way of knowing” (Location 102), our imaginations can help us get closer and relate to one another.

Imagination is a key component of perception, as our vision only “captures disconnected static snapshots, an incomplete picture riddled with gaps” (Location 103). According to behavioral psychologists Etienne Pelaprat and Michael Cole, imagination bridges these gaps by creating “stable and single images that make it possible for us to think and act” (Location 103). A chart with different fragments of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous 1503 painting the Mona Lisa Illustrates this idea, demonstrating that we perceive this iconic image in multiple fragments that only our imagination makes whole.

Sousanis considers stories crucial vehicles for transporting us from our perspective to those of others, as “[T]hey let us reach across time and space to share in another’s viewpoint” (Location 108). These narratives can include both human stories and different theories about the shape of the universe. Sousanis uses the image of the Russian doll to show the human capacity “to host a multiplicity of worlds inside us” (Location 109). Using our imagination to help us pass through perceptual thresholds is important for our personal growth and transformation.

Sousanis begins his sixth chapter with the question, “[H]ow did I get here?” and the accompanying illustration of rain droplets (Location 114). This leads to images of rain showers on successive pages and culminates in a river carrying a formation of people along with it (Location 118). Sousanis writes that “[T]his river is our history” and has formed by repetitive action and the advancement of common ideas (Location 119). Every human born into the world arrived “midstream” and therefore followed the grooves their ancestors established (Location 120). 

This is an efficient process, but over time, the focus of this efficiency has shifted: “[T]he means we created to track celestial and earthly activity […] were inverted […] and became what (sociologist and historian) Lewis Mumford calls a mechanism to synchronize our actions” (Location 122). Sousanis accompanies Mumford’s explanation with a circular shape whose top half resembles a celestial globe, and whose bottom is a machine with cogs. Text and image show how when we stop questioning the state of the world and allow our habits to possess us, we become inflexible. Location 124 features multiple complementary illustrations revealing how efficiency comes at the expense of flexibility, as a rounded, crawling baby evolves into a stiff-calved, upright man. Location 125 features the island of Manhattan in New York City and shows how a linear, repetitive commute “shrinks one’s world” (Location 125), whereas varying one’s route keeps alive the “imaginative dance” that facilitates our access to other dimensions (Location 126).

Sousanis compares a person with flattened perspective to a puppet on strings. Successive boxes illustrate the daily routine of a wooden-faced boy. Moving clock hands punctuate the boy’s actions, indicating that routine dominates his life. However, one day a caterpillar-like creature shakes him out of his routine. The caterpillar makes the boy increasingly uncomfortable with the status quo, especially when it asks him about his own identity. The accompanying illustration in Location 135 shows the caterpillar turning the boy upside down. This act reveals the multiple strings that have tethered him to a narrow view of reality.