Number seven has fascinated me for years. As a fellow author and septaphile, I am delighted about the publication of “7, the Number for Happiness, Love and Success,” by Jackie Leo. I may be one of the first seven people in the world to comment publicly about Leo’s seven book which is an intriguing and thought-provoking literary exploration of the wondrous world of seven.

I applaud Leo and her publisher TWELVE for recognizing the cultural, mystical and scientific influence of the number 7, as I did in my book “7: The Magical, Amazing and Popular Number Seven,” which Aventine Press published this past March. I was in touch with Jackie Leo a couple days ago for the first time and her kind words of praise about my 7 book mean a lot to me. The feeling is mutual x7 for me. It’s a pleasure to be her new 7 friend.

Here are my seven favorite things about Jackie Leo’s collection of sevens: 1. “Seven Siblings” story about Kristin van Ogtrop’s (editor of Real Simple) father as one of seven children 2. Striking book cover with a royal gold image of my favorite number seven 3. Feast of the Seven Fishes celebrated in Southern Italy 4. “Odds on Seven” piece about dice rolls 5. Walter Anderson’s “Seven Steps to Self-Fulfillment” 6. Delightful “Counting on Seven” piece by Washington Post writer Sally Quinn 7. “Seven on Seinfeld”-a 7 factoid which I also enjoyed including in my book about seven which describes Seinfeld’s “The Seven” episode #123.

I wish Jackie Leo huge success with the launch of her book on 7 December. I regard our two books as complementary because they each document and validate the significance of the number seven throughout recorded history. If you’re a septaphile-a fan of the popular number seven-no book collection about the number 7 would be complete without buying both “7″ by David Eastis and “Seven” by Jackie Leo.

Seven cheers to Jackie Leo from David Eastis, author of “7″-”7:The Magical, Amazing and Popular Number Seven” published by Aventine Press in March 2009.