What this book did was place mathematics in human and historical context. It starts with Hippocrates' Quadrature of the Lune, then moves on to Euclid's proof of the Pythagorean theorem, and moves along through history all the way down to Euler and Cantor.
I've always thought that the book's format or method is the best way to teach mathematics in a general sense. It beats the rote practice of formulae out of context, and it simultaneously teaches the history of mathematics and science. I'm always gifting parents of school-age children copies of this book.