The Fourth Dimension

Read by Peter Yearsley

"Mr Hinton tries to explain the theory of the fourth dimension so that the ordinary reasoning mind can get a grasp of what metaphysical mathematicians mean by it. If he is not altogether successful, it is not from want of clearness on his part, but because the whole theory comes as such an absolute shock to all one's preconceived ideas" - The Bristol Times (quoted within the book).

This book was published in 1912. The author is attempting to communicate a very complex interweaving of philosophy and mathematics, and it is often difficult to follow his train of thought. However, it is hard to refute his idea of a four dimensional universe passing through and, in a way, creating our three dimensional one.

For sections 1-9, the reader attempted to describe the illustrations in the text, but as the pictures were getting more complex, a separate PDF of illustrations was created, copied from the pages of the book. The file HintonIllustrations.pdf can be downloaded from this page. (Summary by Peter Yeasley)

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M4B Audiobook 01-16 (122MB)

M4B Audiobook 17-29 (128MB)

queue_music Chapters 29

1 01 - Preface; Chapter 1 - Four Dimensional Space 13:15
2 02 - Chapter 2 - The Analogy of a Plane World 21:06
3 03 - Chapter 3 - The Significance of a Fourth Dimensional Existence 15:40
4 04 - Chapter 4, part 1 - The First Chapter in the History of Four Space 21:23
5 05 - Chapter 4, part 2 - The First Chapter in the History of Four Space 19:00
6 06 - Chapter 5, part 1 - The Second Chapter in the History of Four Space 11:22
7 07 - Chapter 5, part 2 - The Second Chapter in the History of Four Space 19:16
8 08 - Chapter 5, part 3 - The Second Chapter in the History of Four Space 14:56
9 09 - Chapter 6, part 1 - The Higher World 17:04
10 10 - Chapter 6, part 2 - The Higher World 16:59
11 11 - Chapter 7 - The Evidence for a Fourth Dimension 18:16
12 12 - Chapter 8, part 1 - The Use of Four Dimensions in Thought 14:02
13 13 - Chapter 8, part 2 - The Use of Four Dimensions in Thought 13:50
14 14 - Chapter 8, part 3 - The Use of Four Dimensions in Thought 16:34
15 15 - Chapter 9, part 1 - Application to Kant's Theory of Experience 14:59
16 16 - Chapter 9, part 2 - Application to Kant's Theory of Experience 17:59
17 17 - Chapter 10, part 1 - A Four-Dimensional Figure 12:39
18 18 - Chapter 10, part 2 - A Four-Dimensional Figure 10:32
19 19 - Chapter 11, part 1 - Nomenclature and Analogies ... 16:34
20 20 - Chapter 11, part 2 - Nomenclature and Analogies ... 17:41
21 21 - Chapter 12 - The Simplest Four-Dimensional Solid 35:29
22 22 - Chapter 13, part 1 - Remarks on the Figures 26:42
23 23 - Chapter 13, part 2 - Remarks on the Figures 22:15
24 24 - Chapter 14, part 1 - A Recapitulation and Extension of the Physical Argument 27:15
25 25 - Chapter 14, part 2 - A Recapitulation and Extension of the Physical Argument 30:45
26 26 - Appendix 1, part 1 - The Models 12:58
27 27 - Appendix 1, part 2 - The Models 20:46
28 28 - Appendix 2, part 1 - A Language of Space 27:05
29 29 - Appendix 2, part 2 - A Language of Space 18:41