The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill: A Closer Look at the Hidden Magic and Meaning of the Money You Use Every Day [Paperback]

David Ovason (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2004

Do you know the true meaning of a dollar?

Few people do. Now an expert on arcane symbolism uncovers the fascinating secret meanings behind the design of the money we use every day.

In The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill, David Ovason explores the visual complexity and magic behind the world's most influential currency. Lively and readable, this extraordinary book invites you to take a dollar bill in hand and set off on a visual adventure. You will discover dazzling explanations of its secret contents -- from the symbols derived from the Great Seal to the extraordinary strands of numerology interwoven into its structure, to sur-prising hidden alignments.

Once you discover the magic and mystery revealed in The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill, you will find that the dollar in your wallet is worth so much more than what you can buy with it.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Ovason has spent more than a decade researching the architecture and zodiacs of Washington, D.C. He teaches astrology and has studied the life and writings of Nostradamus for more than forty years. He is the author of several books, including The Secrets of Nostradamus and Nostradamus: Prophecies for America. Mr. Ovason lives and works in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060530456
• ISBN-13: 978-0060530457
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting way to pass some time, June 27, 2005

By 

Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill: A Closer Look at the Hidden Magic and Meaning of the Money You Use Every Day (Paperback)

The author has 100 points (factoids) about the one dollar bill. He focuses on the various symbols found on this familiar item, the possible signficance of this symbols, when and why they first appeared etc. Some of this information is aleady quite well known, such as the fact that many of government officals in the past and present are Masons and that many of our nation's symbols have a basis in Masonic tradition. Other items are not as well known, such as the extensive (according to the author) use of numerology.

I found the book interesting but was a bit frustrated by the format. Instead of a regular narrative divided into chapters with subheadings the author has 100 numbered sections of one or more short paragraphs giving the book the look and feel of a rough draft.

The author also has a tendancy to state his point and then simply move on. At the end of the book I had learned several intriguing tidbits but was left wondering 'so what?'.

If you would like to find a way to spend a few hours and pickup a few factoids to toss out then get this book, a dollar bill and a ruler and enjoy. Don't be surprised though if after dazzling your friends by displaying unsuspected triangles and pointing out the repetitions of various numbers and symbols if you are not asked what is the point to all this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting artwork and factoids, but overall a big "who cares?", October 3, 2007

By 

Jason Mierek "uniqueness is ubiquitous" (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill - A Closer Look At the Hidden Magic and Meaning of the Money You Use Every Day (Paperback)

"Fascinating." "Extraordinary." "Dazzling." Breathless adjectives like this, taken directly from the blurb on the back cover, echo the tone of the book itself. While purporting to reveal "the fascinating secret meanings behind the design of the money we use every day," this book instead merely presents a series of more-or-less unconnected factoids about the various images found on the US $1 bill. Having previously read Ovason's *The Zelator* on the recommendation of a friend, I recognize this rambling and disconnected manner of presentation as something characteristic of the author's ouvre and not merely something particular to this specific book. Sadly, Ovason's writing style wrings all the power and magic out of a fascinating premise and replaces it with a sullen "so what?" I also found annoying Ovason's habit of passing off unsubstantiated assertions as fact, something that he does on a regular basis.

A page-by-page analysis of the book is inappropriate for a book review, but one choice example should suffice to support my criticisms. On page 5 (in his irrelevant factoid on how the word "dollar" originally came from Germany, irrelevant because he fails to connect it with any subsequent factoid) Ovason makes the claim that only those who knew that the dollar sign had been derived from a crucifix (one of the many points he assumes rather than proves) would get the "half-joke" from Sinclair Lewis' *Main Street* that the dollar sign "chased the crucifix clean off the map." Really? I would have thought that was a pretty transparent reference to the fact that the "almighty dollar" had supplanted the Christian God in the hearts of America's faithful, a rather mundane theme which is in keeping with the rest of Sinclair Lewis' writing. Far too often, a section heading that includes wiggle words like "may," "possible," "might" is followed by a paragraph from which these qualifiers are absent. One need read only a few pages into the book to see that Ovason's tendency to confuse assertion with fact is clearly evident.

A good book on the symbolism of the dollar bill would definitely be an interesting read for those interested in American history, Freemasonry, and symbolism in general. Sadly this isn't that book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could Have Been So Much More, March 5, 2009

By 

Matthew Foster "Movie Lover" (Northwest Arkansas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill: A Closer Look at the Hidden Magic and Meaning of the Money You Use Every Day (Paperback)

This book was good but not great. It could have been so much more. The book is made up of a series of bullet points (e.g., "The five-pointed star is a magical symbol linked with duration and time."). The bullet points are followed by some explanatory material, but there is very little, if any, text that ties all of the points together to show their context and relevance. If this book had more prose that tied it all together, it would have easily deserved 5 stars. The book also has numerous factual and typographical errors. For example, the author calls the second president of the United States "John Adam" instead of "John Adams". The author also makes numerous references to things on the dollar bill, saying "the seal on the right", when it is really the seal on the left. This book needed a good editor! Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but feel it missed the mark in key ways.