Africa and mathematics. From colonial findings back to the Ishango rods (Q1710239)

In 2005, this book appeared in Dutch with the title `Afrika + Wiskunde' and now, in 2019, this English translation has been published. In comparison to the former edition, some alterations and additions have been done. Let us first give a very freely paraphrased and shortened version of the publishers' descriptions of both editions, in order that the reader might get an impression what it is all about. From the 2005 edition: At the border of Congo and Uganda a rod was formed (now called the Ishango bone), very old, about 25000 years, with on it intriguing mathematical carvings. The author defends the hypothesis of what it means, as provided by the Belgian astronaut Vladimir Pletser. It should be a connecting rod, in a non-Western-way. African ways of counting, multiplications, games, have been worked out in the book. This ethnomathematics is an eye-opener for the professional oriented mathematicians, but surely also for anyone interested in cultural utterances, here by means of games, pictures and the like. Also, people being interested in such things as ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' will find nice discussions in the book. The Ishango rod was hidden in the Museum of Natural Sciences in Elsene (Belgium) for almost fifty years. The author found it once again, and then a lot of research started, described in the book. From the 2019 edition: This book fills a gap in studies on ethnomathematics in Central Africa. The discovery of the Ishango rod shifted (in a way that has some points at it, reviewer's remark) the origin of mathematics to the heart of Africa (as far as very old times are concerned, reviewer's observation). This book is not particularly about mathematics itself; readers will enjoy the book as a survey of African art, culture and history. The book does contain beautiful figures, imprints and photographs in colour. Highly acclaimed!