Mathematics - A Curious History: From Early Number Concepts to Chaos Theory

This is a beautifully balanced book which goes through the main developments in mathematics from the pre-classical era right up to the present day. It has some well-chosen and beautiful illustrations of the key players, concepts and manuscripts. What's amazing is that the author, a non-mathematician, has managed to explain the development of the key mathematical ideas so succintly in short chapters. It's full of anecdotes and plain-speak which make it an easy and enjoyable read, particularly if you are from a non-maths background. You can feel the attention to detail and editing in the preparation of this book. I would certainly recommend it to anyone with an interest in mathematics from a historical perspective or as an alternative introduction to the greatest developments in the queen of sciences. Perhaps the only omission was the contribution of Claude Shannon to information theory.

This is a clearly written and well-illustrated account of the history of mathematics.After an illuminating introduction there are chapters on 'Mathematics Before The Classical Era'; 'Mathematics In Ancient Greece'; 'Mediaeval Mathematics'; 'Renaissance And Revolution' & 'Into The Modern Era'.The book concludes with a useful glossary of mathematical terms.Joel Levy's 'Mathematics: A Curious History' is an accessible and fascinating book which deserves to be read by those who usually have an aversion to the subject.