17 Equations that Changed the World by Ian Stewart 2012
http://www.businessinsider.com/17-equations-that-changed-the-world-2014-3
My previous book review of Cosmic Numbers, The Numbers that Define Our Universe by James D Stein 2011… declared it “fantastic.”
I did not reread it immediately, because my young friend (recent Mechanical Engineering graduate) had also loaned me 17 Equations that Changed the World. Going from numbers to equations is an order of magnitude (or more) level of difficulty. Each chapter could be a book it self. Ian Stewart does an amazing job putting the mathematical developments into historical context with an engaging narrative to pull the readers along.
The last three chapters were new territory for me with subjects of information theory, chaos theory and the Black-Scholes equation used by the financial services industry. Wow! I have questions…not for my readers…but as an inquiring mind.
Again, this book is a great recommendation for students young and old(er) interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math). I added a new page to this website with a STEM reading list.
BTW I asked Glenda where she got this book…thinking it was required reading with course work…No….how fun is this? She found it at Shakespeare and Company Kilometer Zero, a bookstore in PARIS!
elfcroft 
This book is far over my head except I like engines especially steam engines that power trains and we had a steam bowler that powered the heat when I was at VSDB. Now it is all electric.