Not sure about mathematics. History of math is interesting, but I have never found it super enlightening when it comes to actual concepts. Although it's probabl

Not sure about mathematics. History of math is interesting, but I have never found it super enlightening when it comes to actual concepts. Although it's probably good to understand some of it, because it helps to underline the reasons why various definitions have been introduced (for example, definition of continuous function and then later topology). However, whenever I talk to other people (contrarians) about global warming, I very much recommend Weart's History of Global Warming as the only book to read. I think in this case, understanding history of the theory, the timeline and how convoluted the path of discovery was helps to break the silly conspiracy theories about climate change.