The title of this post is the title of a book I read in my teens. I found that book baffling, in part because I completely misinterpreted the title as some mathematical thing and at best you could loosely interpret it as "the man who strategizes" if you want to view it through the lens of a man who "counts" in terms of being about the math-y type thinking.
A princess and two men get stranded on a planet. One of the two men is young, handsome, etc -- stereotypical romantic leading man material. The other man is some pot-bellied, older guy who has all the right moves in terms of political savvy and problem solving.
The princess ends up with the man who "counts" -- the one who matters or makes a difference -- not the stereotypical handsome romantic lead type. That's what the title is about.
The planet where they are stranded is inhabited by winged humanoids that have diverged into two warring cultures. One lives a migratory life which has created a lot of cultural edicts that are followed so strictly they no longer realize they are cultural and they think it is biological destiny, such as only mating at times when the resulting birth will be acceptable for the migratory patterns.
The other is a settled people who lack those edicts. Since not having those edicts is a threat to the survival of the migratory group, the two factions find each other simply intolerable and their different habits odious and objectionable.
"The man who counts" -- the older, pot-bellied guy -- is able to see how to get what he needs from both groups in order to arrange rescue. He is clear they are not biologically distinct factions but simply culturally distinct and why.
I don't remember all the details. I do remember it is a low gravity planet with little in the way of metals and he gifts a coin to the wife of one of the leaders. The book doesn't outright SAY she poisons someone with it, but it talks about the soup being too spicy and her giving the coin to someone else and it being ground down.
In another scene, this man acts like a pompous ass and at some point bends over, provoking one of these winged peoples into literally biting him in the butt. Since he is not from a low grav planet, he contains enough metals for the bite to effectively poison the individual who bit him in a kind of knee-jerk reaction.
I really enjoyed the book, especially the parts with political intrigue and the commentary on two distinct cultures the members of which saw their way of life not as culture but biological edict, but I got to the end of the book and was still waiting for the part where some man "counts." What was he supposed to count? And why? And why was this so important it went in the title?
It would be a long time before the title struck me another way.
Now in my late fifties, I appreciate the point the book had to make about the princess, being a woman with power, marrying the man who was an asset to her career and not the handsome stereotypical romantic lead character who THOUGHT he would win her by default since he was all handsome and what not.
A princess and two men get stranded on a planet. One of the two men is young, handsome, etc -- stereotypical romantic leading man material. The other man is some pot-bellied, older guy who has all the right moves in terms of political savvy and problem solving.
The princess ends up with the man who "counts" -- the one who matters or makes a difference -- not the stereotypical handsome romantic lead type. That's what the title is about.
The planet where they are stranded is inhabited by winged humanoids that have diverged into two warring cultures. One lives a migratory life which has created a lot of cultural edicts that are followed so strictly they no longer realize they are cultural and they think it is biological destiny, such as only mating at times when the resulting birth will be acceptable for the migratory patterns.
The other is a settled people who lack those edicts. Since not having those edicts is a threat to the survival of the migratory group, the two factions find each other simply intolerable and their different habits odious and objectionable.
"The man who counts" -- the older, pot-bellied guy -- is able to see how to get what he needs from both groups in order to arrange rescue. He is clear they are not biologically distinct factions but simply culturally distinct and why.
I don't remember all the details. I do remember it is a low gravity planet with little in the way of metals and he gifts a coin to the wife of one of the leaders. The book doesn't outright SAY she poisons someone with it, but it talks about the soup being too spicy and her giving the coin to someone else and it being ground down.
In another scene, this man acts like a pompous ass and at some point bends over, provoking one of these winged peoples into literally biting him in the butt. Since he is not from a low grav planet, he contains enough metals for the bite to effectively poison the individual who bit him in a kind of knee-jerk reaction.
I really enjoyed the book, especially the parts with political intrigue and the commentary on two distinct cultures the members of which saw their way of life not as culture but biological edict, but I got to the end of the book and was still waiting for the part where some man "counts." What was he supposed to count? And why? And why was this so important it went in the title?
It would be a long time before the title struck me another way.
Now in my late fifties, I appreciate the point the book had to make about the princess, being a woman with power, marrying the man who was an asset to her career and not the handsome stereotypical romantic lead character who THOUGHT he would win her by default since he was all handsome and what not.