<story><title>Al-Jazari</title><url>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jazari</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>walterbell</author><text>Can anyone recommend books on the cross-cultural history of mathematics? I&amp;#x27;ve found these:&lt;p&gt;1) Georges Ifrah, &amp;quot;Universal History of Numbers&amp;quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Universal-History-Numbers-Prehistory-Invention/dp/0471375683/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Universal-History-Numbers-Prehistory-I...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;the first complete account of the invention and evolution of numbers the world over ... Dubbed the &amp;quot;Indiana Jones of numbers,&amp;quot; Georges Ifrah traveled all over the world for ten years to uncover the little-known details of this amazing story. From India to China, and from Egypt to Chile, Ifrah talked to mathematicians, historians, archaeologists, and philosophers.&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;2) Paul Calter, &amp;quot;Squaring the Circle: Geometry in Art &amp;amp; Architecture&amp;quot;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Squaring-Circle-Geometry-Art-Architecture/dp/0470412127/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;Squaring-Circle-Geometry-Art-Architect...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;the combination of the subject knowledge of design, architecture, art, geometry, philospohy, music theory, and mathematics ... Calter includes the basic lessons and explanations of a regular Geometry course in his book, but then he interweaves an integrated classical curriculum (based on deductive reasoning)&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Al-Jazari</title><url>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jazari</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Nux</author><text>The Islamic Golden Age is pretty fantastic, not the first time I heard about it and usually a cause of pride among my muslim friends (and for good reason).&lt;p&gt;Too bad we&amp;#x27;re witnessing the Islamic Dark Ages right now.</text></comment>