Looking to create my own game I decided to make up a library Dewey Decimal System number hunt and see what I could find. The Dewey Decimal System is the library’s method for organizing its contents based on the division of all knowledge areas into 10 groups, with each group assigned 100 numbers. Using a number that my family or friends gave me, I would explore the library catalog and see what my search would yield.
The first person I asked was my daughter who took me to the 413 section. The Dewey decimal 413's are used for dictionaries. I searched and found 413 STA 2017: Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper. The subject headings of this book are encyclopedias, dictionaries, and lexicography history. The first thing I learned is that lexicography is the practice of compiling dictionaries. I was unaware of this before my new game led me to find this information. Just from reading the summary of this book in our library catalog, I found out that the popular phrase "OMG" was coined and first used in a 1917 letter addressed to Winston Churchill. OMG, who knew? This book is definitely something I would like to put on hold and check into further.
The next number, supplied by my niece, was 791.35. The Dewey decimal 791’s are for public performances. I found 791.35 ADA in the catalog, Sideshow U.S.A: Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination by Rachel Adams. This book dealt with subjects such as circus performers, sideshows and human abnormalities. From the summary in our public catalog I discovered “freak shows were a staple of American popular culture during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the freak show seemed to vanish after the Second World War.” This is not a topic I feel is relevant nor am I interested in learning much more about, however, this topic reminded me of a very good fiction book called "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen which was made into a major motion picture.
My nephew provided the number 541. Dewey decimal 541’s are for physical chemistry, something I could use a lesson on. From my search I found 541 ATK 2014, Physical Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction, by P. W. Atkins. The topics covered in this book are physical and theoretical chemistry. The summary provided didn’t have as many details as I would have liked and since I did not have the book on hand, I decided to follow the link from our public catalog to the Google preview. From previewing the first few pages I learned that “physical chemists base their understanding of the electronic structures of atoms based on Schrödinger’s model of the hydrogen atom which was formulated in 1926” (Atkins 3). Erwin Schrödinger (a name I am familiar with only from the TV show The Big Bang Theory and his cat experiment) was one of the founders of Quantum physics. I think I may put this on my list to learn a little more!
The next number was provided by a friend who cleverly chose 123. Dewey 123’s are for the subjects determinism & indeterminism. I am not sure I know what these subjects mean: should I? So, I am very interested to see what I can find out about them. I came upon 123 HAR 2012, Free Will by Sam Harris. The book summary in our public catalog is quoted as: “In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that free will is an illusion but that this truth should not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom; indeed, this truth can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.” Still confused, I will save this one to look into later.
Since I was not really getting excited about the numbers my friends and family had given me, I decided to see what random number generators might exist to help me play my game another time. I remembered from my experiences using Excel that there was a function to get random numbers in columns if you gave it a range. I used the =RANDBETWEEN function to come up with numbers. This will give me a lot more to explore!
Next, I performed a simple Google search on random number generators and found a very simple one which supplied one number at a time. It came up with the number 651, I will be hunting through our catalog for books with this number as it has to do with the subject of office services, maybe I will share what I learn with my coworkers (whether they are interested or not).
The next time you need something different to do or you are in the library and need a break from studying, try my game and see what you can learn. Sometimes just knowing a little bit about a lot of topics can expand your interests in ways you never thought were possible. If anything, you had fun and can now make good dinner conversation with all the little bits of knowledge you gained from playing this game. Oh, and one warning when playing this game in the library, please don’t run. The library is happy to be here for you to gain knowledge but wants you to do so safely. While we are not experts in the Dewey 610’s (medicine), we will gladly help you find books and materials on the topic!
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