Reviews for From One to Zero A Universal History of Numbers

The average rating for From One to Zero A Universal History of Numbers based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-19 00:00:00 Lupita Everett "Positional numbering system is the defining moment of Humanity"- true; but in reality positional numbering happened (in different timelines, at different places) 4 times by Babylonians, Chinese , Mayans and Indians- and this is just the kind of flaws this otherwise good book suffers from. What could have been a magnum opus on Arithmetic, ends up being an exhaustive, but flawed history of development of numbers/numerals and other arithmetic concepts. Covering Sumerians through Babylonians, Egyptians to Romans, Indians and Chinese - and littered with interesting facts, the book is very wide in its coverage. A number of facts presented in the book have been since then proven incorrect ( a large number of those errors are personal opinions presented as facts; but that does not take away the position this monumental work should hold in the terms of its spawn and effort. As long as one reads the book with some care (if anything appears too incredulous, do check alternate sources), and take things with a pinch of salt, it is a decent enough read- albeit only for people who are interested in such topics.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-27 00:00:00 Jack C Lindsley Not bad actually, quite informative