A History of Pi

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vibrant read , pity regarding reference to a secondary source - Rated
The thing I really liked about the book was the quite personal style of the author. This actually made the book more compelling than any strait-jacketed attempt at supposed objectivity.
Whilst some of the Mathematical examples were demanding for someone like me, I found that you could skip over the detail, having caught the gist and this didn't spoil the book at all.
The one disappointment was a secondary reference that was used that ended up saying the exact opposite to the original author/text referred to. The suggestion was that al-Ghazzali said that Science causes someone to lose their religion when in fact the original reference which I've read in both the original Arabic and its translated English from 'The Refutation of the Philosophers' actually condemns the religious ignaramouses who through their appalling insistence on ignorance become a harm for their religion and can be a means of putting rational people off from religion. The example given in the original refers to Eclipses but could equally apply to other clearly established facts.

Not enough explanation - Rated
I am a self-teaching maths fan, and found the maths too difficult as presented. Sure, it's nice to have a good yarn about the personalities and historical contexts, but most readers will be interested in the maths and want detailed explanations.

I'm convinced the formula at the top of page 17 is nonsense. Anyone?

a popular discourse on the history of Pi - Rated
A book which is wonderfully well-written and can make you laugh out loud. It reflects the author's growing up in stalinist-era checkoslovakia, and his distaste for totalinarianism anywhere. As an added bonus it pokes fun at those eejits who think the bible is literally true (pi = 3 ? ). His obvious admiration for Newton, and England as a beacon for freedom (long before the USA appeared on the scene) was quite touching for this Brit. Whether his diatribes against Romans are justified or not, one has to admit that they had a completely stupid number system. All-in-all one of the most entertaining maths history books that I own. Worth a re-read every now and again as well.

Brilliant and controversial -- Which a book should be! - Rated
Dr. Petr Beckmann was never one to mince words. He quotes a biblical passage that strongly implies that pi equals 3, and while he is never disrespectful to the Bible, he does mock the tortured attempts of some fundamentalists to reconcile this passage with the actual value of pi.

He also mocks the Indiana State Legislature (which, in 1897, nearly passed a law that set the value of pi at about 9.23), and Theodore Heisel (who, in 1931, wrote a mathematical treatise that ignored 4000 years of progress in determining pi).

But he praises Archimedes and Newton, among others, for their heroic and quiet progress in determining the value and application of pi. And, sadly, he concludes that the Heisels of the world are more numerous than the Archimedes.

Great book. But it must be read with an open mind.

entertaining but obnoxious - Rated
The author sounds like someone I'd love to meet at the Oak Bar for a few martinis--but over a book's length his initially amusing tantrums and diatribes about the fools of history (of whom in his opinion the Romans seem to have been the most numerous) start to wear thin. They're also not true.