Empire of the Sum

""[An] enlightening history."" -- The Times Literary Supplement ""Houston’s narrative is full of oddballs, many of them brilliant…"" -- New York Times Book Review ""Houston’s sprightly history aims to give the calculator the recognition it deserves as a stepping stone to the digital era… He makes a convincing case, in sum, for the significance of the calculator."" -- The Economist ""Walking readers from a 42,000-year-old counting aid to digital spreadsheets, the book provides a breezy mathematical history tour through the development of number systems, slide rules, mechanical calculators and microchips. "" -- Nature ""An entertaining, informative story about a technology that defined an era."" -- Kirkus Reviews ""Empire of the Sum spans centuries and reaches across the universe, always coming back to humanity’s craving for calculating machines in all their diverse forms. I dare you to reach the end of this book and not be irresistibly charmed by both the pocket calculator and Keith Houston’s witty, gregarious prose."" -- Nathalia Holt, New York Times best-selling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls ""Keith Houston unfolds a complex and fascinating history of numeracy, the evolution of technology, and the human desire to push our capabilities ever further. Deep, fun, and insightful all at once: my favorite type of technology book."" -- Cal Newport, New York Times best-selling author of Digital Minimalism and A World Without Email ""Houston serves as a fantastically insightful and accessible tour guide on this charming journey of an oft-overlooked invention that changed the world and, in its demise, radically changed the world once again."" -- Blake J. Harris, author of The History of the Future and Console Wars