From Zero to Ten: The Story of Numbers

From Zero to Ten: The Story of Numbers by Collins, Ross. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780195219258.

The whimsical toucans, chickens, owl, and penguin from Write Around the World return, bumbling and tumbling around the world and through time, discovering where numbers came from. From the first counting machine (fingers), pebble markers (or calculus in Latin), and Incan knot-tying to the development of our modern counting system originating in India in 776 C.E. (which took suspicious Europeans 500 years to adopt!), From Zero to Ten is an entertaining and easy-to-understand introduction to the only truly universal language in the world -- numbers -- and related concepts such as trade, money, measurement, time, and even lucky numbers.