The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now it threatens the foundations of modern physics. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything (via).
I'm not a math guy, and after reading Zero, more than ever, I'm convinced of this fact. However, it is a worthwhile read and, like the Washington Post said, "It's really something."
Some favorite quotes:
"In the history of culture the discovery of zero will always stand out as one of the greatest single achievements of the human race." - Tobias Danzig
"With the introduction of . . . the infinitely small and infinitely large, mathematics, usually so strictly ethical, fell from grace . . . The virgin state of absolute validity and irrefutable proof of everything mathematical was gone forever; the realm of controversy was inaugurated, and we have reached the point where most people differentiate and integrate not because they understand whether are doing but from pure faith, because up to no it has always come out right" - Friedrich Engels