Customer Reviews

The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics (Penguin Mathematics)

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'Crest of the Peacock' would be an excellent text for a history of mathematics course. It doesn't cover modern mathematics, but for previous periods it is so much better than many others available. For those brought up on Kline, Boyer, Struik, etc, this book is a refreshing challenge to the thinking we have grown up with. The author does not rant about the misconception of maths as a 'western invention', but instead presents a very readable and well argued history of mathematics in various cultures, and the links between them. I learnt far more from this book than I have from any other history of maths text. Highly recommended, particularly if you teach mathematics - there is so much material in here to liven up your classes.

A monumental work and an outstanding contribution to the history of early mathematics and a rare peep into the much neglected, albeit enormous contributions of the muslim arab, indian, persian and chinese mathematicians in shaping the field of mathematics. Few people will even come close to the extent of research that George Gheverghese Joseph in unearthing the mathematical histories of non-european origins.

I have just finished reading this book. It is an amazing experience for someone whose math stopped with the high school. The sections relating to the truly forgotten people - the original inhabitants of the Pacific region, the American continents and Africa- which is mainly contained in the last chapter entitled 'Reflections' were a revelation to me. Anybody who sees math as a truly global phenomena must read this book I would be most interested in knowing more about the author.

The book brings out a very important balance to the context of history of mathematics. Most of us have no idea that Mayan civilizations could have had developed mathematics. This book will change our view. Even in the context of Indian mathematics, the book draws attention to the context of Kerala mathemtics, to show the continuity of Indian mathematics in 13-14 th centurary. Best part I liked about `quipu'. It is a mop which consists of a collection of knots, often dyed in one or more colours. He discusses how `quipu' of Inca tribes are actually mathematical records, a hard disk of their time. The book is written in a lively form. As a information, The title ` Crest of peacock' means mathematics as as the head of all knowledge.(

For somebody with a limited mathematics background, I was surprised by this book. Chapter 1 is an amazing journey into the pathways and byways of mathematics as a global phenomena. It is also a well-directed polemic aimed at the arrogance of those who claim that mathematics was created by some chosen people. Subseqeunt chapters contain examples and solutions from a number of mathematical cultures. I was particularly attracted by the treatment of Indian and 'Arab' mathematics. The background of the people and cultures involved was treated with such zest that it replenished my appetite to try out more math. I would particulary recommend the last chapter which consists of afterthoughts on the topics covered in earlier chapter. An amazing book!

This is a book of scholarship and clarity. It is an attempt to excavate histories that have been neglected. Mathematics is viewed as truly global pursuit in which every society has participated. A book that can be followed with profit by those with high school math. It demolishes all the Eurocentric assumptions which were byproducts of past dominance. A vast amount of effort expended by the author who should be congratulated. I would unreservedly recommend this book.

There are better multicultural science and math histories out there. His actual information on the development of math in non-Western societies is very good, but in their relationship to Europe his information is faulty. First of all, in his criticism of Eurocentrism he quotes very out of date sources and pretends they represent current mainstream views. Also, he follows Bernal in claiming all Ancient Greeks claimed they got their knowledge from Egypt and Babylonia. Many of those quotes are severly out of context. Herodotus, Strabo and Diodorus quote Egyptian priests on their Egyptianocentric views, and those quotes are now taken to represent the thoughts of the GREEK historians, even when they are highly critical of those comments. For example, after Diodorus lists a large number of Egyptian claims such as being responsible for the education of Pythagoras and the foundation of Athens he criticizes those claims with quotes like these "By many other statements like these, spoken more out of a love for glory that with regard for the truth..they claim Athens as a colony of theirs" and "they offer no precise proof whatsoever for these statements." (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book 1) There are similar disavowals in Ammianus, Strabo and others. So whether or not the statements of Egyptian influence are true or not, it is hardly honest to claim Diodorus and most other ancient Greeks as supporters of the Egyptianocentric viewpoint.

One of the few books with detail on Chinese mathmatics. I would have liked more, though, as most accounts deal almost entirely in Indian, Greek, Arab and Egyptian mathematics.

I agree with the other reviews, except for the math editting. Its apparant that the book wasn't math editted in its entirety, because the math notation isn't consistent. Also, the author's attempts at analysis are, at least in two cases, wrong.(Fortunately, he doesn't attempt much math analysis). On the plus side, I found only 5 math typos, which, considering the amount of math content, is pretty amazing.

For somebody with a limited mathematics background, I was surprised by this book. Chapter 1 is an amazing journey into the pathways and byways of mathematics as a global phenomena. It is also a well-directed polemic aimed at the arrogance of those who claim that mathematics was created by some chosen people. Subseqeunt chapters contain examples and solutions from a number of mathematical cultures. I was particularly attracted by the treatment of Indian and 'Arab' mathematics. The background of the people and cultures involved was treated with such zest that it replenished my appetite to try out more math. I would particulary recommend the last chapter which consists of afterthoughts on the topics covered in earlier chapter. An amazing book!