Customer Reviews
Informative and polemical - By: Andres C. Salama, 19 Aug 2008 
A fine book about non western mathematics, concentrating in such civilizations as Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, China, India, the Arab world, & to a lesser extent, the civilizations of precolumbian America. There is a lot of information here. Unfortunately, the book is unnecessarily polemical. To highlight the contributions of non western civilizations to mathematics, Gheverghese feels the need to belittle alll the time the western contributions to mathematics. A worthwhile book for those interested in the topic, nevertheless.
Marvellous Book - By: , 06 Nov 2002 
This is a book that is truly liberating. It should be read by each & everyone of us brought up on a diet of undiluted Eurocentrism. An amazing journey through history & cultures, one is left at the end of it wanting more. For someone with a limited & frightening exposure to school mathematics, the level & literary clarity makes much of the maths quite palatable. Would unreservedly recommend the book. I would be amazed if at the end of it one's perception of mathematics has not changed for ever.
Great. A must-read for anyone teaching maths - By: , 23 Oct 2001 'Crest of the Peacock' would be an excellent text for a history of mathematics course. It doesn't cover modern mathematics, but for previous periods it is so much better than many others available. For those brought up on Kline, Boyer, Struik, etc, this book is a refreshing challlenge to the thinking we have grown up with. The author does not rant about the misconception of maths as a 'western invention', but instead presents a very readable & well argued history of mathematics in various cultures, & the links between them. I learnt far more from this book than I have from any other history of maths text. Highly recommended, particularly if you teach mathematics - there is so much material in here to liven up your classes.
Second edition of this book - By: , 06 Jul 2000 I have news about a second edition of this book due for this month. It is full of new materials, notes & revisions that makes it even more interesting.
Please let me know when you have it available. Thanks
