Clue List: Chapter 2

Up to 5 clues

One piece of guidance that we received was that there are “over 50” clues in Part 1 for the Lion’s Share treasure and the author had some kind of “clue list” that he may have used as a reference or organizational system. We don’t know what the author defines as a clue (i.e. a specific direction vs. a broader theme) and the number can be 51→∞. But, I think there is still good work to be done within this guidance. For starters, I am going through each Part 1 chapter and giving myself the constraint/target of 5 clues per chapter. Next up is Chapter 2.

My numerical rationale for this framing is that if there are 23 chapters and, say, 2 chapters worth of additional Part 1 content (cover(s), intro, how to, more of, acknowledgements, etc.), that gives me 25 “chapters.” If I assumed each chapter had 2-5 clues (or an average somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5 clues), that puts the total at somewhere between 62.5 and 87.5. These are both “over 50.” However, these ranges are not quite “almost 100” and certainly not “over 100” - both of these are phrases I would have expected the author to use if it was ~100+ clues. Of course, he can say whatever he wants!

I am organizing this list using 5 columns:

• Chapter

• Item

• Description

• Potential Meanings/Uses

• Confidence

Here is what I put down for Chapter 2:

Reference Book Situation

These personal anecdotes throughout the book seem like easy places for the author to weave in clues while also having the chance to share aspects of his life, even if edited/augmented to make the reader experience more interesting. This chapter has the story of a work presentation gone wrong (the filter demo) but it is setup with the origin story of how he came upon the opportunity. Referencing the Dewey Decimal system is a great way to access a defined list of numbers that can be connected to things you might find in a non-fiction book. That would be very clever to have to put together some multi-digit codes based on finding the correct things to classify using this system.

He also somewhat awkwardly spells out sales “S-A-L-E-S”. The way it was introduced as “The letters spelled S-A-L-E-S” makes me think this is could be a literal direction. That some other puzzle/clue when correctly solved will spell out SALES (and hopefully inform something else or confirm that everything else solved that way was correct).

Number Color Chart

The author references pulling up a pool chlorine chart during his clumsy demo of the water filter. I’ve never had to manage a pool before so I am not super familiar with such charts though I have seen folks at pools regularly check levels. I grabbed a screenshot of a chart from Clorox.

I don’t know how standardized these things are, but I like the idea that we’ve got color, letter, and number codes to potentially work with.

12 Rings

I wrote about the number 12 a little while ago. Here are some of the notable 12s that feel connected to themes in part 1 of book:

• TN rings

• eggs in a dozen

• months in a year

• hours on a clock face

• half-tones/steps in an octave

• Troy ounces in a Troy pound

• 12 disciples of Jesus, and 12 Imams who were the successors to the prophet Muhammad

• Zodiac signs

• Olympian gods in the original pantheon: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus (from Wikipedia)

Blueish Pink Sapphire

The first two chapters both highlight blue and pink in the same relative context. In chapter 1 it was the son’s blue eyes and a pink highlighter. Here it is the color of the gem in the ring (which to me, doesn’t seem blue or pink!). Later on in Chapter 14, there is a reference to the flowers on the Tiffany vase treasure item being distinctly blue and pink within the context of seeing such flowers when looking for the treasure.

Gold and Sapphire Ring

I’m on the fence about the author manipulating photographs of the treasure items to conceal clues. But then again, it feels very likely that some marks were added to the Magnifying glass in Ch.3 so perhaps all is fair game. A few online spaces have drawn attention to the shape of the ring shown (apparently) on some kind of ring holder. I would agree that it resembles the head of a bull which could connect to the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan or broader Zodiac/star themes (Taurus).

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I acknowledge I am leaving out all of the extensive history including the Champa and Khmer and Angkor. I just feel like this was a way to frame the significance of these rings. A lot of the history was new to me and I certainly had never heard of Tuyet Nguyet. There are also 12 treasure items in one chapter and not all of them are from the same region era, perhaps another reason the historical narrative is so long.