As with all popular scientific books on mathematics, the sometimes incredible stories about famous mathematicians in history are the most amusing part of the text. However, Du Sautoy often tries to take a different approach and talk more in depth about his own research or the great breakthroughs in the field of group theory and symmetry. Unfortunately, he does this by avoiding any mathematical notations as much as possible, and he never goes into detail on the finer points of the theory, while still trying to explain everything. As a result, large part of the text become completely impossible to understand, even for people with a scientific background (chapter 8 is the worst example). A brave but unsuccessful try to stand out against the other popular books on mathematics. Now it's just... regular.
