Order History
Premium Membership & Rewards
Help Center / FAQ
From 42 to 2001: Science Fiction by the Numbers
There are plenty of eye-catching numbers in the realms of speculative fiction. J.K. Rowling has sold the most copies of any book series: 450 million. Game of Thrones, much to HBO’s chagrin, is consistently the most pirated TV show ever: in a mere four-week period it was downloaded almost 1.6 million times. A few weeks back, John Scalzi netted a number of his very own that he’s probably fairly content with.
Recently, we at the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog passed our own numerical milestone, when followers on our twitter feed finally reached one of the most well-known numbers in all of science fiction: 2001.
In honor of that small accomplishment, here’s a of 5 of the coolest, wackiest, and most interesting numbers in science fiction.
Ships in 1-2 days.
2001, from 2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke wrote his novel in tandem with Kubrick’s production of the same-titled 1968 film. They settled on that exact year due to its significance as the beginning of both the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. Many people wrongly assume the year 2000 marks that occasion, but western calendars start at year one instead of year zero. If you’re still confused, listen to Clarke’s own explanation, which he gave to Reuters late in 1999:
“Though some people have great difficulty in grasping this, there’s a very simple analogy which should appeal to everyone. If the scale on your grocer’s weighing machine began at 1 instead of 0, would you be happy when he claimed he’d sold you 10 kg of tea? And it’s exactly the same with time. We’ll have had only 99 years of this century by Jan. 1, 2000: we’ll have to wait until Dec. 31 for the full hundred.”
Basically, ‘2001’ was a triumph of ever-so-slightly pedantic accuracy, which should come as no surprise to those familiar with Kubrick or Clarke.
Ships in 1-2 days.
42, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
One of Douglas Adams’ most enduring, quotable contributions to pop culture is just two digits long. ’42,’ for those of you who don’t know, is the answer to the life, the universe, and everything. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has been a radio show, a TV show, a six-book-long trilogy, a stage show, a text-based adventure game, a comic book series, and a film, but it never got around to figuring out what the question was.
Fun fact: the 1979 double LP for the radio show incorporated the franchise mythology into real life, with a catalog number of “ORA042.”
Ships in 1-2 days.
“5,271,009,” by Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester’s short stories are fevered, mile-a-minute narratives, and “5,271,009” has even more ideas than most: the protagonist keeps jumping through clichéd paradises of science fiction (the last man on earth, a kid with the knowledge of his adult self, the usual), realizing each one isn’t actually that great, and moving on to the next. One number keeps reappearing over and over, but it’s not until we reach the end that the meaning of it all is revealed.
According to Bester himself, the entire romp was inspired by one illustration, a picture of a space convict chained to a meteoroid. The number on his black and white striped jumpsuit became the driving force behind the bizarre short story, available in Bester’s stunning Virtual Realities collection.
1138, from Star Wars
George Lucas’ first film was titled THX 1138, and the number has been constantly tucked away in his works ever since. Mark Hamill actually ad-libbed the first reference in A New Hope, when Luke claimed to be taking Chewbacca to the Death Star’s cell block 1138. Lucas was originally unimpressed with the meta nod, but must have changed his mind, as there is now an exhaustive list of all the references in the Star Wars universe.
Pixar employees have since pulled a similar stunt with the characters “A113,” referencing an animation classroom from the California Institute of the Arts. Keep an ear open when watching the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens; I’d be surprised if someone doesn’t sneak in a “1138.”
Ships in 1-2 days.
1984, by George Orwell
The reasoning behind George Orwell’s decision to pick 1984 as the setting for his dystopian future is unclear. There is a great, fairly believable urban legend, however: that Orwell just shuffled the digits of the year he wrote the book, 1948. In the process, he subtly hinted that his cautionary tale was just a warped, mirror-image reflection of what the then-present could easily become.
What’s your SF number?