Mathematics for the Million: How to Master the Magic of Numbers

This is a great book. It's clear and direct. Covers in great, highly readable detail the entire history of mathetics. Author Hogben is a fascinating if forgotten writer, thinker and mathematician. BTW I stumbled on it reading a Nero Wolfe story where the great overweight detective picks it his bookshelf to make a point about the Hindu invention of mathematics as we know it.

I was delighted to find that this book is still in print. My darling Dad, a WWII vet who passed almost 25 years ago, shared this amazing book with me when I was a grade-school kid. This is a wonderful introduction to the beauty and intricacy of mathematics. Everyone who loves literature, philosophy, poetry and art, but who fears they might not understand math, should read this enlightening, inspiring book. If you enjoy using your brain, whether in art, music or science, Mathematics for the Million will give you great pleasure, insight and knowledge.

I saw this book first at one of my friends in London. Began to read, but the available time was short. I was astonished that it appeared in about twenty editions in the 1930s, but reading the book persuaded me that it is a real gem. The author introduces mathematics on primers from real life, and he shows its connections with astronomy too, and reaches quite complex subjects easily understandable. No wonder that I found a more recent edition at Amazon. I can suggest this book for people interested in mathematics, and especially for teachers of mathematics, to learn, how fascinating this subject is, and can be taught.

Hogben's approach is to convey math as it proceeded historically as oppose to logically. It is a nice way to present math, but Hogben often puts down "the English speaking Peoples" and Christians throughout his book. For example, he makes fun of John Napier, the inventor of logarithms! This book will not make you fall in love with mathematics as it puts down Euclid and the Greeks, the founders of modern mathematics, at every turn. If you can overcome this deficiency, you will find everything from arithmetic to combinations and permutations to calculus to linear algebra. Each subject is independent and the topics covered in Hogben's book are what today's undergraduate is learning in their 500 page and $150+ precalculus/calculus textbooks. This is a remarkable book for independent study; Hogben does not skip steps and explains it painfully and completely. Before my electrical engineering test, I studied only the first ten pages of Hogben's chapter on linear algebra, and found to my surprise how easy the test problems became if you knew a little linear algebra.

If you're a math freak, you will thoroughly enjoy this first-rate book. If nothing else, you will love the illustrations. I first read it in high school and several times since then.

Good luck finding a more thorough and down-to-earth teacher of mathematics than this book; Lancelot Hogben's entire approach to writing this book was from the direction of greatest humility and deep concern for the reader that I've ever come across. This book has seen multiple printed editions, and for good reason. Beyond simply this book, however, the author himself was a most responsible and heroic person as well. Google him sometime -- he was an outspoken critic of the eugenics movement from the very beginning, and his activism for human rights carried him through all the way to the end of his life.

Fast delivery and the book as described

I sat down with my son and together we discovered the world of mathematics. Everything from how the pyramids were laid out and the mathematics it took to do so. From where and who created the zero to chess and computing. Enjoy this great book with someone you hope will succeed with a future in the hard sciences.

Liked everything

Claridad en la exposición para el novicio en matemáticas

Title and backcover suggest that this book gives an easy introduction into mathematics. One look into the books is enough to realize that this is not the case. Many pictures and drawings are supposed to underline the said. Though this is a good idea, the pictures are not. That one has to constanly browse through the book to find the picture referenced in the text doesn't help of course. For one interested (and fit) in mathematics (I mean really interested like in 'mathematics is my hobby') the book might be interesting as it tries to give a historic view of mathematics. This book is (in my oppinion) NOT a good book to learn mathematics.

Excellent book. Very good price

good book for reference