Thirteen: A Journey Into the Number

Thirteen is Jonathan Cott's (Iris and Osiris) 13th book, and while it may not suffer an unlucky fate, it seems too slight a volume to bring Cott great good fortune. Although Cott, with wit and diligence, says in it just about all there is to say about the myth and meaning of the number 13, it turns out that there isn't all that much to say--the book runs to only 192 illustrated, very compact pages. Still, anyone interested in numerology, sacred numbers, superstition or, simply, the number 13 will find here what there is to find out--from Friday the 13th clubs to the role of 13 in the Tarot to the use of the number 13 in music.