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flooey's review against another edition
3.0
Unknown Quantity is an interesting book about the history of algebra, but I think its major failing is that it concentrates sufficiently heavily on the mathematics that it's hard to read sections if you aren't already knowledgeable about them. It claims to be aimed at the non-mathematician, but even as someone who has good knowledge of algebra, there were portions of the book (such as the topology sections) that I got very little out of because I wasn't already familiar with the particular branch of algebra being discussed. The Math Primer sections are helpful for reviewing subjects you've already been exposed to, but I doubt they would be sufficient for a non-mathematician to achieve sufficient understanding to understand the rest of the book (which makes sense, since something as intricate as Field Theory just isn't going to be explained in 10 pages).
marct22's review against another edition
4.0
I did enjoy this book, a bit of a slog, maybe took 2 months to get through it. I worked through much of the math to ensure I understood it. The history was quite interesting, I really enjoyed the way he walked from the beginning to what's going on today. Makes me want to revisit the stuff I learned but have forgotten! If you don't know much math, this book will be very very difficult to read. I had to recall as best I could what little I remember from my undergraduate physics classes to tackle the later stuff like group theory and manifolds. I don't recall learning ring theory, so that was cool to me!
matthew_p's review against another edition
2.0
I was hoping for a little more narrative, and a little less math. And, truthfully, I had to skim through the last 50 pages or so because my attention was flagging.
fiveloaves's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting and comprehensible, despite the complex algebraic concepts of the book. My one issue with this book is how frequently the author uses phrases like "about whom I shall say more later" and "which I am going to describe in just a moment." The book is full of these promises, and it often feels as if the author goes on tangents and sometimes fails to circle back to the original topic. Some sections feel disorganized and incomplete. However, overall it was a pleasant read, and it does a good enough job of capturing in only 300+ pages a very large field of math.
karliemac's review
This was an interesting book, although the latter half about modern algebra (groups, rings, etc) was not as well explained as I would have liked.
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