– Customer review on 14/10/2011

I read this with some trepidation at first - not being much up in my old algebra and trig etc, not to mention the rest of the mathematics, of course. Pi is one of those intriguing ratios which have bothered mankind for millennia. The author gives a very good historical account of how it has been refined over the times, and in various cultures. I was most amused by the chapter on Rome and the Romans. he hasn't got a good word to say about these "thugs' as he called them. of course, i was reasonably easily lost in some of the diagrams and equations, but I managed to follow the thread through all the attempts to refine the ratio between circumference and diameter in various cultures around the world. Anyone interested in the history of mathematics would find it very interesting. I'll pass it on to my son!

– Customer review on 16/08/2011

This book is not about Pi per se - it is a book about the history of mathematics, especially western math, with lots of opinions by the author, built around the example of Pi.
Readers who are interested in Pi would be disappointed, as they would expect a lot more material about Pi. I can see how the name of the book would mislead the buyers of this book in this way.

As a book about the history of math, I think it is a very good book - it covers the time span from the greeks to the modern era, focusing on western civilization (e.g. the far and middle east are mentioned very little), with chapters about the heavy weight mathematicians of the time. The author makes his opinions clearly and at some length, and I think he got quite a few good points.

The math is a bit difficult for a popular science book, and I get the impression the author just threw in a bit of math just as illustrations to main theme of the history of math and not in order to give the reader some insights and in-depth understanding.

So, if you want a book about the history of math in the west with the author's opinions and commentary, I recommend this book to you. But if you want a book about Pi, by all means skip this book.