The 'Princeton Companion to Mathematics' has the best introduction I've seen to understanding what mathematics is, and what the most important, orientation-givi

The 'Princeton Companion to Mathematics' has the best introduction I've seen to understanding what mathematics is, and what the most important, orientation-giving concepts are. I think your problem is missing implicit context; once you begin understanding what mathematicians value and how various branches interrelate, and how parts of it developed historically—it becomes much easier to follow all kinds of mathematical writing. The intro is about 150 pages, and somewhat dense, but with work definitely accessible to someone with little knowledge of mathematics. I wish they would sell it separately from the rest of the book because it's that good, but unfortunately it comes attached to another thousand pages of material you probably won't have a use for unless you get into mathematics research.