For readers of Steven Strogatz's Infinite Powers and The Joy of x comes this illuminating exploration of the ways in which math—and the people who have mastered its inherent power through the ages—has shaped our world.In this captivating, sweeping history, Michael Brooks makes clear that mathematics was one of the foundational innovations that catapulted humanity from a nomadic existence to civilization, and that it has been instrumental in every subsequent great leap of huma