In Mr. Swetz's learned and engrossing commentary on the text, you can find facts that will impress your boss and amaze your friends, such as the mathematical origins of the words 'counter, ' 'banks, ' and 'digits.' The rich historical details support a compelling account of how mercantile capitalism in the Venetian republic of the early Renaissance crucially influenced the evolution of mathematics and how mathematics helped the rise of capitalism.
--Wall Street Journal