MAMMOTH Chapter Numbering

MAMMOTH: You will notice immediately that Varley begins this novel with two odd devices: (1) He uses excerpts from a fictitious children's book about Wooly Mammoths in the ice age. I haven't figured out how this becomes significant to the novel yet. So far (page 45) it is a distraction to the plot. (2) The first chapter js numbered '5.' This is reminiscent of Isaac Asimov's THE GOD'S THEMSELVES, where the telling of the story differs from the internal chronology but the chapter numbering leaves no room for confusion.

(Deus Vult)