Prime Obsession taught us not to be afraid to put the math in a math book. "Unknown Quantity" still rates the full five stars. These Primers are scattered through the text and serve as guide-posts for the reader as she/he treks through the historical development of Algebra. I really relate to the Derb. It is very well done, and loaded to the gunwales with interesting material - both historical and mathematical. Having read Prime Obsession by the same author I was expecting a a good read with this book and I was not dissapointed. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. I'm an old-school tech-nerd (BS Engineering, 1973, learned the slide rule as a freshman; read Scientific American Magazine--especially Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column in middle & high schools, etc.). I will be looking out for any more books by this author. John Derbyshire discovers the story behind the formulae, roots, and radicals. The sample of reviews on this site is small, but it has an unusual distribution - five out of six reviews (including this one) give 4 stars. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Unknown Quantity was published in hardback in May 2006 by Joseph Henry Press of Washington D.C. Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World's Most Astonishing Number, Taming the Unknown: A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century, An Introduction to the History of Algebra: Solving Equations from Mesopotamian Times to the Renaissance (Mathematical World), The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity, Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics, e: The Story of a Number (Princeton Science Library), [A] very entertaining survey of the development of algebra. There is a greater depth to some of the historical facts surrounding the main players and at last we have an author who explains what some of the women mathematicians actually did that made them famous - Emmy Noether being the most recent. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. There is something of a Roman Catholic flavor to some of it, but not strongly so. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Start by marking “The Unknown Quantity” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. It is very well done, and loaded to the gunwales with interesting material - both historical and mathematical. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. But there is a missing ingredient. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published They’re stories, and delightful, plain and simple. John Derbyshire both knows and loves the subject, and it shows. magazine or listened to his "Radio Derb" audio show at the same magazine's Internet site knows that the author has the ability to interest the reader over a wide range of topics.