Chapter 3: Isn't it Time for a New Chapter?

1-85326-665-7
0-88088-063-5
0-375-50291-2
0-39532-771-x

Do these numbers look familar to you? If you are a bibliophile like my wife and me, you know these numbers pretty well. Maybe not those exact numbers, but you know why they are significant.
They're ISBN numbers which are used to help avid readers like myself to find a book and if needed order it from my local library or bookstore. Started in 1966 as a project for booksellers in the UK, the ISBN or International Standard Book Number is the most vital of cogs to the clock which is known as the global book industry.
And yes, the numbers do mean something. depending on thw placement of dashes, the number help identify a books category, country of origin, publisher, and the system even has a method of insuring quality control.
Now take a look at this number:
978-0785122029
Notice anything different? No? Well, look again.

978-0785122029

That's right, this ISBN numbers has 13 digits, three more than the group of numbers I first quizzed you about. Because there are some many books, and so many new publishing companies and as every tele-communications tells you the world is getting smaller. So naturally, the ISBN number is getting smaller.
In my research for this Dewey project. I happened to read a literary publication, which I now have no idea what the title was, that this change, slated to start January 1st, 2007, is resulting in many books being put out of print in order to be re-published with the new 13-digit numbering. It's also why I can't get my library to order any new copies of Ultimate Spider-man at this time.
So consider this your public service announcment for the day. If you just can't find that special book at your local retailer or libaray due to being OOP (Out of Print): fret not. It's almost guaranteed to be reissued, with a new ISBN, shortly.
Also, check Amazon.com, as they are listing books with both the old and new numbering systems for you convenience.

Oh, and I almost forgot: the answers to the names of the books I used for the ISBN numbers are as follows:
1-85326-665-7 is "The Secret Agent" (Wordsworth Classics) by Joseph Conrad
0-88088-063-5 is "The 12 Cats of Christmas" by Wendy Darling
0-375-50291-2 is "Seabiscuit" (Hardcover) by Laura Hillenbrand
978-0785122029 is Excalibur Classic Volume 3: Cross-Time Caper Book (Marvel Comics)

0-39532-771-x is a made up number. However, publishers do use "X" at the end of the ISBN to prevent copyright infringment.

Thanks to my friends and colleagues at Wikipedia for explaining to me just what an ISBN number is and does.

DD 121-125.999 (Tony) As Luck Would Have It by Joshua Piven (123.3 PIV)

"Incredible Stories, from lottery Wins to Lightning Strikes" by the author of "Worse-Case Scenario" series of books, Joshua Piven.

A Case in Point: It's Halloween 2000 and I am wrapping up my college career. I'm taking a night class in Comedy for my Film History Minor. The week before, our Professor said he would be having a Halloween party along with a Costume contest as we screen "Bloodsucking Fiends, or Excuse Me, but Your Teeth are in My Neck", starring Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski (who oddly enough was not the director).

So we need costumes. But as a married college student, I was very short on funds. Plus I had been working extra shifts and pulling extra credits, just to graduate early. Thus, I forgot to get a costume. (So Sue Me!) Scrambling around my car at the last minute, I found my Letter jacket, which I had yet to bring in the apartment after a round of getting things from my mom's place. Needing a hook though, I grabbed a board game and took out the board.

So I've got some items, now to BS my way into a costume. Then it hit me, Go as Marty Mcfly from " Back to the Future II". I put on the jacket, turned my pockets in my jeans inside out and said the board game was a hover board.

Needless to say, I didn't win, but I got a consilation prize of one American dollar. Since I forgot to bring a drink to eat with my dinner (and the Professor forgot that he promised to bring us all food), I went upstairs to our drink machine. I had trouble with my dollar (it was wrinkled) so I let another classmate go first. I finally got the dollar to take and ended up winning a prize.

See the Carolina Hurricanes at the time had more trouble filling a seat than a dentist with a bad cough and filthy hands. So they were putting passes for two to go to a game of one's choice on select Coke cans. I happened to for once be patient, let someone go in front of me, buy a Coke and by good fortune managed to get $80 worth of seats for my wife and I to go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game- all for the price a $1 (that really wasn't even mine).

So as you see, that was a story of my good luck. We all have such stories.

An experience such as that caused me to really want to read this book. True, it's only 180 pages, plus a few end notes. But I really wanted to read this book. Joshua Piven, the author of this book also has written "The Worse-Case Scenario Survival Handbook" and several sequels. Having read one or two of the series, I was familiar with the writer. And since I've not been in much mood for surprises lately, I felt that this book was the most Sweden (Nuetral) of choices.

Piven writes about individuals who beat great odds to suceed or survive. Scenarios include surviving in a blizzard, flying a damaged plane back to it's home port (in this case a moving air craft carrier while facing severe head winds), being standed at sea, and being struck by lightning. All event in the worse case possible, so having Mr. Piven write this book seems a logical choice.

But Piven also writes essays on a guy winning a lottery, how Tommy Tutone wrote "Jenny/ 867-5309" and how a scout for new trends in toys brought us Cabbage Patch Kids and Pokemon. With the obivious possiblity to write about how the last guy has managed to survive angry parents who've had to endured said toy fads, these guys really don't seem to have terrible hardships. However, our author focuses on how these blessings tend to become curses in disguise.

These essays could be bogged down with very technical details about odds and precentages. Yet, they are handled with delicate care buy a master craftsman who took his skill for simplfying survival guides for layman who want info and a good laugh.

Josh Piven also does a great job of picking the right story to indentify the right person's run of good luck. For instance, the man who brought us Pokemon and those hideious dolls (and yes, I had one!), also gave us Donkey Kong. But while the author talks a little about that important pop culture icon, he understands that the more interesting story lies behind the discovery of all 150 of those pocket monsters and how kids just gotta "catch them all".

It's an important trait for any researcher who wants to tell the whole story in an entertaining way. It's also why I told you my dear readers about winning the tickets. It wasn't to brag! HONEST! See, a few weeks later, I won another set of passes for a hockey game. Only this time, with my own cold hard-earned cash. Both times I was lucky.But be honest folks: which story is really that more entertaining AND more luckier of the two?