The Universal History of Numbers (3 vols): "World's First Number-Systems", "The Modern Number-System", "The Computer and the Information Revolution"

Ifrah, Georges

ISBN 10: 186046792X / ISBN 13: 9781860467929

Published by The Harvill Press, 2000

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Neat dedication on the opening page.

Seller Inventory # rev6402595234

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Universal History of Numbers (3 vols): "World's First Number-Systems", "The Modern Number-System", "The Computer and the Information Revolution"
• Publisher: The Harvill Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 186046792X
• ISBN 13: 9781860467929
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 2320 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Rare book

Review

The title doesn't lie. Mathematician Georges Ifrah's masterpiece, The Universal History of Numbers, is a wonderfully comprehensive overview of numbers and counting spanning all the inhabited continents as far back in time as records will allow us to look. Beyond the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians, and Indians, Ifrah takes us farther south into Africa to examine an early decimal counting system and into ancient Mexico to reconstruct what we can of the Mayan calendar and numerical system. The 27 chapters are chiefly organized by culture, though there are some cross-cultural overviews of topics like letters and numbers.

The author's aim was grand: "to provide in simple and accessible terms the full and complete answer to all and any questions ... about the history of numbers and counting, from prehistory to the age of computers." This led him to wander the world for 10 years, studying and learning; this scholastic pilgrim has returned with amazing stories to tell. Toward the end of the book, Ifrah makes the book truly universal by refuting alien-intervention theories of cultural origins--surely our benefactors would have given us an efficient decimal counting system, zero and all, before helping us build pyramids and such. Such charming ideas, combined with such rigorously researched facts, make The Universal History of Numbers a uniquely important and fascinating volume. --Rob Lightner