This is an excellent introduction to the fundamental principles and the core concepts of mathematics. There is no need to be mathematically inclined or a mathematical specialist to gain significantly from reading this book. Serious students of mathematics, logic, intellectual history, or philosophy will also gain significantly from its lucid and sharp explanations, and Bertrand's ability to question and challenge and manipulate even the most presumed unchangeable fundamental categories of mathematics.
This book is cogently written and is for the serious student and reader (yet there is no new mathematical or logical symbol system that needs to be learned, like in his and A.N. Whitehead's Principia Mathematica). A consistent theme throughout is on the philosophical nature of mathematical knowledge.
Some of the topics and concepts covered:
Part I - The Indefinables of Mathematics