Originally published: New York : Free Press, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-291) and index.

The story of Euclid -- 1. The first revolution -- 2. The geometry of taxation -- 3. Among the seven sages -- 4. The secret society -- 5. Euclid's manifesto -- 6. A beautiful woman, a library, and the end of civilization -- pt. 2. The story of Descartes -- 7. The revolution in place -- 8. The origin of latitude and longitude -- 9. The legacy of the rotten Romans -- 10. The discreet charm of the graph -- 11. A soldier's story -- 12. Iced by the Snow Queen -- pt. 3. The story of Gauss -- 13. The curved space revolution -- 14. The trouble with Ptolemy -- 15. A Napoleonic hero -- 16. The fall of the fifth postulate -- 17. Lost in hyperbolic space -- 18. Some insects called the human race -- 19. A tale of two aliens -- 20. After 2,000 years, a face-lift -- pt. 4. The story of Einstein -- 21. Revolution at the speed of light -- 22. Relativity's other Albert -- 23. The stuff of space -- 24. Probationary technical expert, third class -- 25. A relatively Euclidean approach -- 26. Einstein's apple -- 27. From inspiration to perspiration -- 28. Blue hair triumphs -- pt. 5. The story of Witten -- 29. The weird revolution -- 30. Ten things I hate about your theory -- 31. The necessary uncertainty of being -- 32. Clash of the Titans -- 33. A message in a Kaluza-Klein bottle -- 34. The birth of strings -- 35. Particles, schmarticles -- 36. The trouble with strings -- 37. The theory formerly known as strings.