This was a fascinating read, and completely interdisciplinary: Kaplan weaves together maths with philosophy, religion, literature, history, and science. He unfolds the story of maths with clever, witty writing. It is truly enlightening to envision the world before zero, but it's even more so to see how this transformative number travelled from its origin in India , through the Arab world, and then to the West. Towards the end of the book he gets a bit too mathematical--far too many equations for a lay reader like me. Otherwise this is a terrific book.