For the really ambitious, there's always Knuth's treatment in TAoCP volume 2: Semi-Numerical Algorithms. It runs about fifty pages, covers such interesting topics as the statistical distribution of floating point numbers in order to determine average running time, and of course, includes exercises like [42] Make further tests of floating point addition and subtraction, to confirm or improve on the accuracy of Tables 1 and 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volume-Seminu...

On the more social side, Dr. Chuck's interview with William Kahan on the history of the IEEE standard is a good read:

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/ieee754status/754story.ht...

Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, vol 2 [1], not surprisingly, gives a thorough discussion of the balanced ternary system.

The solution for a nice brainteaser can be found quickly once one thinks about balanced trinary, here it is: "Using a balance scale, what is the minimum number of wheights needed to weigh any whole number of grams up to 40g?"

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volume-Seminu...