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Jan McCann

The Book of 365

  • The Book of 365

  • Ever wondered how many dimples there are on a golf ball; or why the shipping forecast is broadcast on 198 kHz long wave? Find yourself puzzling over what is really going on in the 273 seconds of John Cage’s most famous composition? Then this book of mind-boggling number facts is for you.

    The Book of 365 offers an entertaining and thought-provoking mini-essay on the world around us for every day of the year, each taking a number between 1 and 365 as its starting point, encompassing science, history, art, literature, medicine, and popular culture, and covering topics as diverse as modern music and meteorites, archaeology and chilli sauce, un-birthdays and radio valve technology.

    On the way, uncover:

    At 5, the pentaradial symmetry of starfish and roses
    At 34, how the US flag got its stars and stripes
    At 99, the mysteries of the 99 ice-cream
    At 239, where Sherlock Holmes really lived

    And, in honour of the leap year, at the end of the book there is a bonus 366th essay!

Jan McCann worked for many years as a bookseller in Bristol, Bath, Totnes, and even further west, but she also moonlighted as a jazz musician, and still frightens the neighbourhood cats on a daily basis with her saxophone. She has a BA and a PhD in Art History, as well as a BSc in Geography, and has been working as a freelance copy-editor, proof-reader, book reviewer, occasional examiner, and writer since 1999. She lives on the south Devon coast.

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