It was written by Bonnie Averbach and Orin Chein, published in 1980 by W. H. Freeman and Company, and reprinted in 2000 by Dover Publications.

[2][4] The book's exercises include some with detailed solutions, some with less-detailed answers, and some that provide only hints to the solution, providing flexibility to instructors in using this book as a textbook.

[1][5] Cartoons and other illustrations of the concepts help make the material more inviting to students.

[1] As well as for general education at the college level, this book could also be used to help prepare students going into mathematics education,[1] and for mathematics appreciation for secondary school students.

[1] The rest of the book is organized into eight thematic chapters, each of which can stand alone or be read in an arbitrary order.