I did not give this book a rating; I could not. It would have been totally inappropriate for me to have done so. I read the first chapter, set the book down and have not picked it up again.

In high school, I was never able to get my head around mathematics. I barely managed basic arithmetic. I borrowed How Mathematics Happened: The First 50,000 Years in hopes of finally understanding at least some of what I was supposed to have mastered way back when: false hopes. I shall pick up the book again today... to return it to the library. I did learn one thing though: I'd need 50,000 years just to grasp what the author presents in chapter one.