The Penguin Book of Curious and Interesting Mathematics

David Wells's intriguing anthology spans the centuries as he introduces a collection of choice eccentrics: people who looked for logical loopholes in the American Constitution, calmed their nerves with algebra or used sextants to measure the buttocks of Hottentot women. Along with Newton's views on chance and chaos, scenes from the life of Pythagoras and legal attempts to lay down the value of [pi], he presents maths in the Bible as well as maths and misogyny, madness and the military.