referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2005-09-16 11:20:00 |
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| Entry tags: | general knowledge, literature, numbers |
The Facts On File Dictionary of Numerical Allusions
The Facts On File Dictionary of Numerical Allusions
By Lawrence Urdang.
Published by Facts On File, 1986. Copyright held by the author.
This is a hardcover book measuring 6" by 9" and running 324 pages including the index.
This is a book listing all kinds of things that are associated with particular numbers. So, you look up any number and for that number you get an alphabetical list of things that go with it somehow, and then for each of those things you get a definition that includes something about why it's associated with that number. Whole numbers from zero to 13 have the largest numbers of entries. There are a few entries for some negative numbers and fractions, with the highest number being infinity (right after googolplex). The lengthy index in the back lets you look up anything that's defined in the book and tells you what number it is associated with.
The first 10 entries under the heading "7" are as follows (with a note on why they're included):
- alchemy (because it has seven "bodies")
- Associated Counties (the seven English counties that combined to join parliament's side in the English Civil War)
- B (7th musical tone in the diatonic scale in the key of C)
- Barbarossa (said to change his position in sleep every seven years)
- candelabrum (in Christian tradition, has seven branches symbolizing seven gifts of the holy ghost)
- Canonical Hours (seven hours of prayer in Christianity offered daily in fulfillment of the Scriptures)
- Champions of Christendom (a group of saints)
- Chapter 7 (a chapter in U.S. bankruptcy law)
- Charlemagne (said to "start in his chair from sleep" every seven years)
- Chicago Seven, the
It is fairly obvious how arbitrary and culturally biased this collection is, so I won't harp on that issue.
It's a fun book to browse or to use when you're engaging in a literary or artistic project where associations with numbers are useful.
