I own this book, and I use it occasionally, but it really requires the right audience.
Firstly, it has several parts. Some of these are historical, philosophical, or otherwise interesting to a general audience, but some of them are technical (I would put most of pages 157-729, nearly 60% of the book, in this category).
For people that are interested in mathematics, but do not have a fairly extensive background (I would estimate 2-3 courses beyond the calculus series), these technical sections are probably not very useful (and certainly not entertaining).
For people (like me), who are still pursuing an education in mathematics, I would say this book is indispensable. It gives a great overview of individual branches of mathematics, including fairly rigorous explanations of important results and conjectures.
The exposition portions of the book are good, but don't warrant the high price of the book on their own. Overall, though, it is a tremendous reference.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the folks who write the articles are all outstanding mathematicians - many of them Fields medalists or other award winners. That makes for some very good reading.
I agree with everything you said and would only add that if you have studied lots (for example, are a graduate student in mathematics), then it will probably be frustratingly shallow on anything you know reasonably well (or not mention it at all, if it's specialized), but it is still an amazing resource to get started in fields of math that are not your own.
Firstly, it has several parts. Some of these are historical, philosophical, or otherwise interesting to a general audience, but some of them are technical (I would put most of pages 157-729, nearly 60% of the book, in this category).
For people that are interested in mathematics, but do not have a fairly extensive background (I would estimate 2-3 courses beyond the calculus series), these technical sections are probably not very useful (and certainly not entertaining).
For people (like me), who are still pursuing an education in mathematics, I would say this book is indispensable. It gives a great overview of individual branches of mathematics, including fairly rigorous explanations of important results and conjectures.
The exposition portions of the book are good, but don't warrant the high price of the book on their own. Overall, though, it is a tremendous reference.
Edit: I forgot to mention that the folks who write the articles are all outstanding mathematicians - many of them Fields medalists or other award winners. That makes for some very good reading.