Number: From Cave People To Computers, A Revolutionary View Of Ourselves
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What does it truly mean to count — and how did humanity's relationship with number shape the very arc of civilization? Number: From Cave People to Computers, a Revolutionary View of Ourselves is a sweeping, intellectually bold journey through the history of mathematics as seen through the lens of human culture and cognition. John McLeish chronicles the remarkable story of how numerical thinking evolved from the earliest tally marks scratched by prehistoric hands to the sophisticated algorithms powering modern computers, arguing that our capacity for number is nothing less than a defining trait of the human species. McLeish writes with the authority of a scholar and the flair of a storyteller, weaving together anthropology, history, and mathematics into a richly textured narrative that illuminates how different civilisations — Babylonian, Greek, Arab, and beyond — each contributed vital threads to the grand tapestry of numerical knowledge. The result is a work that challenges readers to reconsider humanity's intellectual heritage, presenting mathematics not as an abstract academic discipline but as a living, breathing force that has shaped art, commerce, philosophy, and power. For anyone who has ever wondered why numbers feel so natural yet so mysterious, this revolutionary account will leave them seeing the world — and themselves — in an entirely new light.
Author: John Mcleish
Format: Paperback
Genre: Mathematics
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
What does it truly mean to count — and how did humanity's relationship with number shape the very arc of civilization? Number: From Cave People to Computers, a Revolutionary View of Ourselves is a sweeping, intellectually bold journey through the history of mathematics as seen through the lens of human culture and cognition. John McLeish chronicles the remarkable story of how numerical thinking evolved from the earliest tally marks scratched by prehistoric hands to the sophisticated algorithms powering modern computers, arguing that our capacity for number is nothing less than a defining trait of the human species. McLeish writes with the authority of a scholar and the flair of a storyteller, weaving together anthropology, history, and mathematics into a richly textured narrative that illuminates how different civilisations — Babylonian, Greek, Arab, and beyond — each contributed vital threads to the grand tapestry of numerical knowledge. The result is a work that challenges readers to reconsider humanity's intellectual heritage, presenting mathematics not as an abstract academic discipline but as a living, breathing force that has shaped art, commerce, philosophy, and power. For anyone who has ever wondered why numbers feel so natural yet so mysterious, this revolutionary account will leave them seeing the world — and themselves — in an entirely new light.