>>14244771The number system is base ten, meaning that after ten (integer) numbers (0 through 9), another digit has to be added to describe the number. Since multiplying by ten is adding a number to itself 9 times, the sum must have “run out” of digits to add to the original number and must add another digit to represent the sum. And since it’s precisely 10, it can be done by just adding the tenth digit, 0.
The closest book I’ve read is A Short History of Nearly Everything, which delves a lot into the history of science, but it’s mostly science and not math.