I took several calculus courses in college in the fifties and sixties. Until reading this book I never had a fundamental understanding of the calculus, and only got through by memorizing some of the tricks. Berlinski has the uncommon talent of lucid, interesting exposition married with rigorous grounding in mathematics. He joins a small list of scientist/writers such as Richard Feynman,Richard Dawkins, and Brian Greene, all who have the ability to make the reader enjoy the study of difficult subject matter. For some, Berlinski's detours into history and the creation of imagined domestic scenes may be an aggravation. For me, they provided comic relief at exactly the right moments. The use of an imagined, or maybe real, class of calculus students is an excellent didactic technique, and the students offer more than a little comedy of their own. Buy this book and read it twice.