I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this book and after the first 100 pages I was somewhat disappointed.  It seemed to be more of a history book full of anecdotes and stories.  I'm still on the fence about my view since I was wanting a deeper analytical book into calculus and newer hypotheses, how complex geometry, multi dimensional calculus, etc all work and what their inner mechanisms are.  What little tricks or insights I could get from someone more enlightened than myself.  But that was maybe my 'knee jerk' buy a book and see where it takes me attitude that set me up for disappointment!!<br><br>However, from a journey perspective this book is very enjoyable.  It shows the layperson what math is and how it basically works without scaring the reader out of their wits with symbols and mathematical posturing.  This is where I give this book a big applause.  I really think this book should be read before studying mathematics/science/engineering so that one has a context on what has happened and why.  This will then allow one to see the forest for the trees and understand that there are other forests and they too have navigational complexities.  The author has done a wonderful job of being a guide through the mathematical calculus world and showing how the great minds spring-boarded off the last set of great minds.  You get to see that intellect itself is non-linear.  Maybe there is a partial differential equation that could compute that too !!!  ;-)