A student of Trinity College and a member of the Cambridge Apostles, William Kingdon Clifford (1845-79) graduated as second wrangler in the mathematical tripos, became a professor of applied mathematics at University College London in 1871, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1874. The present work was begun by Clifford during a remarkably productive period of ill health, yet it remained unfinished at his death. The statistician and philosopher of science Karl Pearson (1857-1936) was invited to edit and complete the work, finally publishing it in 1885. It tackles five of the most...