Astonishingly poetic and assiduously researched, I found a lot to like in this slim (but dense) volume of mathematical inquiry. I am not the kind of person who considers math to be their forte, but I have always been fascinated by the ways in which mathematics can and does function as a language of its own. Theory has always dazzled my mind, and yet the practical applications of such continue to elude me in frustrating ways - though, with a bit of effort (and perhaps, focus?) on my part, I can sometimes see a glimmer of math's inscrutable majesty. (Don't ask me how long it took me to shakily grasp the theory behind and the practice of nesting fractions in algebra!)

With that caveat aside, it should come as no surprise that my favorite parts of this book where the parts where Kaplan details the origins of zero, the history involved, and the differing perspectives on the number-that-is-not throughout the ages. I also loved his own philosophical musings on it, and the breadth of the quotations from a staggering array of sources, sprinkled throughout the text. I admit I had to skim past a lot of the actual math involved in some of the later chapters, but all in all, this was a book to be savored - if only for the pure joy of reading the work of someone who is clearly delighted by language in all of its forms, including the language of math itself.