[zsmi]

I really enjoy looking into the history of mathematics and physics. I think it gives one a much better appreciation of why things are defined the way they are, and also the limitations of those definitions.

There is a really great book on the history of imaginary numbers. The history mostly focuses on how i was used to help solve algebra problems, so definitely one should be comfortable with high school algebra to get something from the text, but I don't think one needs much more math than that for the first half of the book. The second half gets more into how various use cases developed, in those chapters basic college level calculus would be a major plus. I read it more than 10 years ago though so no promises. :)

An Imaginary Tale: The Story of √-1 Paul J. Nahin

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691169248/an...