On Books – For The Love Of Nines

Lists are coming!

Starting soon I will do some posts that are lists of books or authors or whatever topic pops into my labyrinthine mind. (Hmm, maybe a list of big words I use unnecessarily 🙂 ).

You will notice my lists are not the traditional “Top 10”. With very few exceptions, they are lists of three or nine. This is a peculiarity of my personality, so I thought I ought to explain.

There are two reasons for this nine centered devotion. The first is everyone does Top 10 lists. So they’re boring. I am easily bored, so the whole Top 10 thing lost any interest for me years ago. But if it’s not a list of ten then what should it be?

That’s the center of my personal quirk. I have a lifelong affection for the number nine. It began with my boyhood hero, William Stanley Mazeroski. Pirate second baseman, Hall of Famer and hero of the 1960 World Series. I fell in love with him as a ten-year-old kid. One of the best fielding players of all time at his position, Maz is best remembered for the only bottom of the ninth, game seven, World Series clinching home run in baseball history. Pretty impressive for a player who was a solid but unspectacular career hitter.

But that was only the beginning of my fascination. Nine falls into the category of a “perfect square”. That means it is the result of a number multiplied by itself. In this case, three times three. My last name has nine letters. My first name has three. So there is a very personal connection to the number.

Last but not least, nine has magical properties (if you believe in magic). Nine is the only number where you can take any multiple of it and, by adding the single digits of that number always end up with nine. Here’s what I mean:

9 x 257 = 2313

2 + 3 +1 +3 = 9

or

9 x 8214 = 73926

7 + 3+ 9 + 2 + 6 = 27

2 + 7 = 9

Always. Every time.

Magic.

I have no idea why that happens, or if it has any significance at all. But it’s cool and fascinating. And one more reason why I’m into nines.

So my lists stop at nine. Because, why not? What’s so special about ten? Ten is boring. Perfectly orderly and symmetrical. Not my thing at all.

So the lists are coming. Lists of nine.