See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Baez for some basic background. See http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/ for more articles from him if you enjoyed this one.

One of my favorites is http://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/our-galactic-... which describes our galactic neighborhood. Everyone knows that Alpha Centauri is our nearest star. But I bet you don't know a lot more about it. It is a much more complex place than I had realized.

Edit: In fact, I'd be astounded to encounter a number that did not exhibit any special properties. Until, of course, one makes "having no special properties" a special property. In that case, I would no longer be astounded.