โInspiring and informativeโฆdeserves to be widely read.โ
โWall Street Journal
โThis fun book offers a philosophical take on number systems and revels in the beauty of math.โ
โScience News
Because we have ten fingers, grouping by ten seems natural, but twelve would be better for divisibility, and eight is well suited to repeated halving. Grouping by two, as in binary code, has turned out to have its own remarkable advantages.
Paul Lockhart presents arithmetic not as rote manipulation of numbersโa practical if mundane branch of knowledge best suited for filling out tax formsโbut as a fascinating, sometimes surprising intellectual craft that arises from our desire to add, divide, and multiply important things. Passionate and entertaining, Arithmetic invites us to experience the beauty of mathematics through the eyes of a beguiling teacher.
โA nuanced understanding of working with numbers, gently connecting procedures that we once learned by rote with intuitions long since muddled by educationโฆ Lockhart presents arithmetic as a pleasurable pastime, and describes it as a craft like knitting.โ
โJonathon Keats, New Scientist
โWhat are numbers, how did they arise, why did our ancestors invent them, and how did they represent them? They are, after all, one of humankindโs most brilliant inventions, arguably having greater impact on our lives than the wheel. Lockhart recounts their fascinating storyโฆ A wonderful book.โ
โKeith Devlin, author of Finding Fibonacci