Rating: 
Summary: It drove me crazy
Review: This book talks some of the most intriguing of classical math problems, and I can not tell you enough about how much of a pleasure it is to read.It forces us to put some thought over some of the mathematical results that we take for granted today, such as pythagorean theorum, the infinitude of the prime numbers, etc. I read it in just 2 sittings, and have read it over once again after that. If you have any inclination towards mathematics and its beauty, you will be a different person after you have read through this highly motivating and pleasurable read. The only thing I wished the book had more was the number of problems it covered :) I seriously wish that William Dunham sets out to write many more such books covering many many more such mathematical problems in his beautiful style! Wish you all the best, William!
Rating:
Summary: A delicious book and mathematical wonderments
Review: This is sumptuous and beautiful writing. Years ago, I took 4 years of math in college, and had forgotten how lovely and surprising these ideas can be, especially when elegantly explained. Would that I had had a professor then, who could have walked through this history so well. With regard to the theorems themselves, how is it possible that our scientific ancestors were so clever and insightful? How can we explain the genius of men like Euclid, Newton, and Euler? This book dazzled me, and I predict the same effect for any readers with even a smattering of math education and a taste for scientific wonderments.
Rating:
Summary: A marvelous history of significant mathametics
Review: Well I couldn't fit the entire title I wanted. Add the words "made enjoyable to read" to the title. I'm not a mathematician by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy the subject. The author picked what seemed to me to be some of the most significant mathematics over a 2300 year period and put it in a form that made it very enjoyable to read. I wish there was a course version of this offered during my college years. I think a student would get a lot out of it and also enjoy going to class.
Rating:
Summary: Very stimulating as history
Review: When were algebraic equations formulated with symbols? When were decimal expansions introduced? These questions are answered in readable form, along with examples of some simple and very interesting calculations made by Newton. A book like this makes one aware of just how much math was developed right before Newton's birth. Without those contributions, neither calculus nor classical mechanics could have been discovered by him.
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