← The Architecture of Number
The First Abstractions · 5 volumes · ~182 min
How We Learned to Count
Why did we invent numbers before writing?
From tally notches to algebra in Baghdad — math for survival, religion, debt.
- Vol. I The First Notch & The Broken Loaf How a hand carved a line on a bone and invented counting
- Vol. II The Fire Altar & The Wheel: Geometry, Angular Momentum, and the Discrete Sacrifice How Vedic priests trying to double a fire altar invented geometry and irrational numbers
- Vol. III The Pebble, The Chord & The Void: How Anvil Harmonics, Olive Monopolies, and Incommensurable Stones Built Greek Proof How Greek pebbles and harp strings created proofs and discovered infinity
- Vol. IV The River Observer & The Meridian Debt How an Indian astronomer who said Earth spins invented zero as a debt
- Vol. V The Estate Scribe of Baghdad How inheritance disputes in 9th-century Baghdad invented algebra and codebreaking