Book excerpt: A compulsively readable look at the secret language of numbers- their role in nature, movies, science, and everything in between. What do Fight Club, wallpaper patterns, George Balanchine's Serenade, and Italian superstitions have in common? They're all included in the entry for the number 17 in this engaging book about numbers- detailing their unique properties, patterns, appeal, history, and lore. Author Derrick Niederman takes readers on a guided tour of the numbers 1 to 300-covering everything from basic mathematical principles to ancient unsolved theorems, from sublime theory to delightfully arcane trivia. Illustrated with diagrams, drawings, and photographs, plus 50 challenging mathematical brainteasers (with answers), this book will fascinate and engage readers of all levels of mathematical skill and knowledge. Includes such gems as: ? There are 42 eyes in a deck of cards, and 42 dots on a pair of dice ? In order to fill in a map so that neighboring regions never get the same color, one never needs more than four colors ? Hells Angels use the number 81 in their insignia because the initials "H" and "A" are the eighth and first numbers in the alphabet respectively