Book Review: Quite Right - The Story of Mathematics, Measurement, and Money

            Have you ever wondered how mathematics was used with little to no verbal language? Have you ever wondered why we calculate time the way we do in base 60? Or have you simply even wondered how currency came about? If you answered yes to any of these questions with a spark of interest, then Quite Right: The Story of Mathematics, Measurement, and Money, by Norman Biggs, is the book for you! Through the progression of this book, you will learn many aspects of the history of mathematics, measurement, and money.

            Some strong points of this book are the explanations and the amount of content covered. Throughout the book, the reader will be taken through many different mathematical concepts that have been around for centuries and how those concepts played a role in society based on the given region’s culture. Readers will be able to visit places like Egypt and visit people like the Babylonians! This book does use the history of mathematics as a stronghold for the content area, but it also has a lot of solid tie-in material that involve forms of measurement and money. 

            Some of the weak points of the book have to deal with the disbursement of content and the ability to comprehend certain mathematical topics. As said before, the history of mathematics is the majority of this book, so if one is going in hoping to learn more about measurement or money, it would be best to find a different book. However, if a solid mix in of measurement and money is well enough, then this is an excellent choice! Along with some disbursement issues, the pacing can be odd as well, but can be overlooked quickly with the next upcoming possibly more interesting topic. The recommended mathematical reading level definitely requires some college level mathematics, as the mathematics can go fairly in depth and abstract enough where some deeper mathematical knowledge is required.

            All in all, anyone that is looking for some interesting facts about the history of mathematics, measurement, and money, then this is a great read! As long as the reader has a fairly good sense of mathematics, the book will be a pleasant experience to read through. I would say that this book gave me a greater understanding of why mathematics is a thing in society from a theoretical point of view. For a rating, I would give this book a solid 7.5 out of 10.

Images:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F41fWgXwXWcL._SX325_BO1%2C204%2C203%2C200_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FQuite-Right-Story-Mathematics-Measurement-ebook%2Fdp%2FB019GXM8VA&docid=ICjwX_GNKE4ItM&tbnid=s2-t7q3M7dpflM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwj6-8mp_t7WAhUDRyYKHZP6AlgQMwgmKAAwAA..i&w=327&h=499&bih=807&biw=1368&q=quite%20right%20the%20story%20of%20mathematics%20measurement%20and%20money&ved=0ahUKEwj6-8mp_t7WAhUDRyYKHZP6AlgQMwgmKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8