I got a lot out of "Unknown Quantity" by John Derbyshire. Subtitle a real and imaginary history of algebra. I particularly enjoyed the lead up to the Chapter "A

I got a lot out of "Unknown Quantity" by John Derbyshire. Subtitle a real and imaginary history of algebra. I particularly enjoyed the lead up to the Chapter "Assault on the Quintic". Also, I hold "The Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Numbers" close to my heart for the endless fun it brought me.