Customer Reviews

Symbols -- Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a visually rich resource, providing the reader with 2,500 graphically clear drawings of signs in black and white, alongside with Carl G. Liungman's explanations of their origin and uses. Browsing the pages is rewarding for the artist looking for inspiration. There is plenty of it -- the book contains some 1,600 articles, and an additional 100 pages with essays on ubiquitous/especially interesting signs or sign systems (such as the Mystical Pentagram, or the signs of the Alchemists).

The explanations are usually to the point, although I find that Liungman occasionally strays too far away from the subject at hand. The sections about the astrological systems of signs are particularly abundant in information, and would have gained from being more carefully edited. The selection of signs, however, is excellent; it even includes modern ideograms from the Internet age, such as the At sign.

Symbols -- Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms really excels when it comes to searching for signs that the reader does not yet know the name of. Using a taxonomy scheme of his own, Liungman has classified the signs into 54 distinctive groups. The reader can navigate to any of the groups simply by describing the sign in terms of "Crossing lines/Not crossing lines", "Single-axis symmetric/Asymmetric" and so on. A quick glance at the right group overview page is all it takes to find the right match.

This book is highly recommended.

I was inbetween 3 and 4 on this. It is a really good reference but it doesn't really give that much information for any of the symbols that it lists and it's not quite a complete list but still worth buying.

This is a fantastic reference guide for symbols that we encounter in every day life. It is also useful if one wants to use symbols in a creative or meaningful way. I suggest getting it if one is often curious about the meaning of certain pictures and symbols or if one likes to use symbols in their works.

If you are looking for some kind of Robert Langdon's book about symbolism this one is great! And i ordered it all way from Brazil ^^ great value, awesome product, very complete :) well done!

This book is a scholarly work and contains many good references. It is easy to use and comprehensive. This book does not address some of the symbols of alchemy and ceremonial magic, so you may have to look elsewhere for those. Also, hieroglyphs are not, in general, covered (but there are some). I liked this book and recommend it.