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Title: Nicely paced, nicely interconnected
Review: Derbyshire interweaves superficial biographic sketches of the mathematicians with superficial descriptions of their discoveries, alongside Will Durant-esque comments on the world political situation at the time.I found it very interesting. It will be more interesting for you if you have heard of Descartes, Gauss, Riemann... and if you have a sense of what a function is, a matrix, a ring. You need not be able to manipulate them, but if you can visualize how they work, you will enjoy this book.The presentation is fairly linear chronologically, which helps a great deal, and serves to map the development of algebra from a curious set of puzzle solutions to an abstract math/philosophy.I've read quite a few popularizations (e, i, Pi, Phi, and the ilk) and enjoyed this one as much as any of them.
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