The author recalls W. C. Field's famous answer to the question, "Is this a game of chance?" -- "Not the way I play it." Most counting-out situations, like most card "tricks", test the player's skill in solving problems of modular arithmetic. [202]

A chapter on each of the numbers zero to thirteen and infinity ("lazy eight"), with fun historical and mathematical tidbits about each. ( )

I like books about numbers. I like learning about origins of language. And, for the most part, I liked this book. You cannot read this expecting some overlying theme to it all, or even a nice neat conclusions section to wrap everything up. Each chapter is its own entity and is tenuously connected to a single number (zero through thirteen, plus an additional chapter on infinity). However, the narrative is tangential and digresses often into adjacent but not immediately applicable topics. For instance, chapter 5 is spent largely discussing the measurement of time. Is it an interesting collection of random information? No doubt. However, it's nothing more than that. It is less a book than a collection of well-informed essays bordering on stream of consciousness. I had hoped for more explanation of common number-themed phrases, but I did not want for neat little facts on math and linguistics. If you're just looking for some light nonfiction, this is a nice diversion. ( )