ZERO! THE NUMBER THAT ALMOST WASN'T

This fun and fascinating story traces the lengthy path from “nothing” to a functioning zero.

Albee begins with prehistory (since the concept of nothing long predated the idea of zero) and progresses to the Babylonians, ca. 300 B.C.E., while also noting the Mayans’ independent invention of zero. She then credits the “unknown Indian mathematician” who first wrote zero as a numerical symbol (identified in the timeline as the Bakhshali manuscript), followed by Brahmagupta, who used zero in calculations. Many pages are devoted to the challenges of getting zero to be accepted in Europe, where it eventually enabled calculus and the scientific revolution. The backmatter notes that zero was crucial to computer coding. The book brilliantly traverses the history of zero across time and continents and clearly explains its initial value as a placeholder. Elegant and delightfully intricate illustrations superbly evoke history in clothes and settings. The composition of the spread depicting mathematician Fibonacci is, per the backmatter, “roughly organized [per] the Fibonacci sequence”—an especially clever detail. Numerous figures are brown-skinned; many are female. The art alone will grab many readers, who will readily stay to be enthralled by the numbers.

An excellent historical and mathematical introduction to a key concept.