Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book has three things to say: math is awesome. There are mathematicians whose genius you will never approach. You might as well never even attempt to participate. Unfortunately, it never gets much more detailed than that. The book's format is largely at fault: it devotes a page or less to each of the items of math history, and devotes the facing page to a large illustration connected (at times tangentially) to the topic at hand. With so little space to work in, Pickover is pressed to explain the simplest overview of any given topic and its significance. He rarely gives examples of the actual math involved, and never attempts to actually convey understanding of it. From the outside, this book looks like a college textbook. From the inside, it looks like a coffee table book, with thick and glossy pages. However, the quality is inconsistent. Some of the art is beautiful, but other illustrations are badly pixelated. The biggest problem with this book is that there is simply too little math in it. I expected a Suzuki method introduction to topics in modern math, and instead received something between a history book devoid of detail and a table book with poorly-chosen art.