I am beginning to read Devlin's The Language of Mathematics. An interesting discrepancy already (published in 1998 in terms of negligible internet).
In Devlin's book, it all started with the Greeks. It's interesting that the Babylonians don't get a greater place at the beginning since they set up calendar to sky to give us a foothold in spacetime.
So anyway, I plan to read that book completely, and then Edna Kramer's book is 700-odd pages. And then hopefully after that, I will understand enough of the history of mathematics.
The other book I happen to have a copy of? I used to think that it was not worth it, but now I'm really interested to start with the idea. Henry George's Progress and Poverty. Let's see how an honest American looked at their situation at the end of the 19th century.
It should be a good perspective on the other three books. Man Against Mass Society. Looking forward to asking Marcel's opinion again. I remember where I read it before and which copy. Philosophy Masters, I owe that experience a lot. I don't remember most of what I read, but I remember it really twisted my mind socially to that big picture viewpoint (though not quite Thomas Nagel's view from nowhere) of what's really going on in society. And then a review of anthropology (Mudimbe), and... oh yeah, Braudel. A good review. The best there is anywhere! He invented history.
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