Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography

Rating:
Summary: I wish this was a coffee table book...
Review: ...but since you're probably meant to bring it with you cemetery-hopping, it makes sense that it's so small. It's packed with information and fantastic photos, and is beautifully bound. I purchased it as a dad's day gift, but wanted to keep it for myself!

Rating:
Summary: I wish this was a coffee table book...
Review: ...but since you're probably meant to bring it with you cemetery-hopping, it makes sense that it's so small. It's packed with information and fantastic photos, and is beautifully bound. I purchased it as a dad's day gift, but wanted to keep it for myself!

Rating:
Summary: Providing a handy hardcover pocket-sized 'field guide'
Review: Competing books on the topic of cemeteries have offered different focuses: how to conduct cemetery research, how to locate notable cemeteries: Douglas Keister's Stories In Stone goes a step further, providing a handy hardcover pocket-sized 'field guide' to cemetery symbols and iconography. Photos of angels, worldly symbols, and religious symbols are packed into a guide which explains their origins and meaning in the cemetery setting.


Rating:
Summary: "Stories in Stone," a cemetery lovers book.
Review: I am a family genealogist and love cemeteries. Recently, I spent a most enjoyable Sunday afternoon curled up in my favorite chair reading "Stories in Stone" cover to cover. I just couldn't put it down.

It is one of the very best books I've read on cemetery symbolism. The amount of research and documentation is impressive. Photographs are used freely throughout to illustrate and compliment each of the symbols discussed. "Stories in Stone" is a must-have, must-read book for all cemetery aficionados.

Rating:
Summary: "Stories in Stone," a cemetery lovers book.
Review: I am a family genealogist and love cemeteries. Recently, I spent a most enjoyable Sunday afternoon curled up in my favorite chair reading "Stories in Stone" cover to cover. I just couldn't put it down.

It is one of the very best books I've read on cemetery symbolism. The amount of research and documentation is impressive. Photographs are used freely throughout to illustrate and compliment each of the symbols discussed. "Stories in Stone" is a must-have, must-read book for all cemetery aficionados.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Photos
Review: It is beautifully illustrated. You really can confidently buy this for the photos alone.

I like the book a lot. It is pretty comprehensive and the types of symbols are broken down into like flora and fauna which makes it easy to reference, there is a nice listing of orginizations in the back. Nice bits of historical changes in the basic meaning of symbols.

No book of listings of symbols is ever complete, I can think of a few things that could have been added, but buy it anyway. Great photos and you won't be disappointed.

And remember, just because someone had ivy carved on their gravestone does not mean that it symbolizes eternity, they really may have just thought it looked pretty.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Photos
Review: It is beautifully illustrated. You really can confidently buy this for the photos alone.

I like the book a lot. It is pretty comprehensive and the types of symbols are broken down into like flora and fauna which makes it easy to reference, there is a nice listing of orginizations in the back. Nice bits of historical changes in the basic meaning of symbols.

No book of listings of symbols is ever complete, I can think of a few things that could have been added, but buy it anyway. Great photos and you won't be disappointed.

And remember, just because someone had ivy carved on their gravestone does not mean that it symbolizes eternity, they really may have just thought it looked pretty.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Guide to Demystifying Cemetery Symbolism
Review: It's been said that a person has one chance to make a first impression. Conversely, one only has one chance to make a last impression, and where better to make that impression than the cemetery, where your statement has the best chance for longevity? ~ Douglas Keister

Since I was very young, graveyards have always fascinated me. I love the look of graveyards at night, although I've yet to venture into them in the middle of the night. I live vicariously through the Buffy show as I watch the DVDs. While watching the Buffy show I became rather interested in the symbolism of various statues and objects.

Now, with all the seriousness of death in our society, you would not expect to find humor in a book about gravestones and iconography, but it is definitely present in the most witty fashion. I have rarely found a book that made me laugh out loud as many times and at such surprising times. Douglas Keister has a wicked sense of wit and in the midst of decoding a certain symbol or discussing history he will bring in an ironic twist that is shockingly amusing. He also explains the real meaning of "skeleton in the closet" and explained the uses of exploding torpedo coffins. Who knew. He has taken high-quality photographs which not only set the mood for this book, they help to emphasize the details being discussed.

On a more serious note, Stories in Stone is essential for gravestone scholars and cemetery sleuths. Suddenly you will view graveyards with a new appreciation.

Douglas Keister discusses Classic, Egyptian, Islamic, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical architecture. Through pictures and in depth research, he explains the oldest burial monuments and why a tumulus is mostly found in Western Europe.

Some of the Contents includes: Funerary Architecture: Designed for Eternity, Mausoleums, Chapels, Offices, Tombs, Sculptures, Memorials, the Sarcophagus, Stone Sentinels: Designed for Remembrance. Symbols: Plants and Flowers, Fruits, Grains, and Vines, Trees and Bushes, Animals, Fowls and Insects, Fishes and Mollusks, Reptiles and Amphibians, Mythical Creatures, Tradesmen's Tools, Religious Icons, Emblems, Insignias, Tokens, Death Seals and Angels.

You will also find informative and highly entertaining sections about:

Mortality Symbols
Christian Symbolism
Hebrew Symbolism
Chinese and Japanese Symbolism
Secret Societies

I now understand the relationship between Persephone and pomegranates, between the weeping willow and immortality and why my father objected to me dating a boy who gave me an anthurium-style flower.

While I don't intend to die anytime soon, I've already designed my own monument/gravestone which will be a girl peacefully sleeping with a cat on a bed and a butterfly perched precariously on the edge of the book resting in her sleeping hand. The girl will have angel wings and there will be at least three candles and of course, 5 stars placed somewhere in a row above a favorite quote. I also liked the idea of the tear vial and a key, not to mention a favorite flower. Perhaps someone could plant lavender around the grave or they could work lavender into the carving on the stone. I don't actually want to be buried, maybe they could just sprinkle my ashes around the stone and I could be reborn into the lavender plants.

Not only does this book inspire, make you laugh in places and bring enlightenment to anyone who loves to study gravestones, this book also has romance! Yes, there is a story of the Blocher Mausoleum in buffalo, New York. It is a story of love, loss and reminds us all that we only get one chance to live and love. So while this book gave me ideas for how to design my own sarcophagus, this book also reminded me of how much life I still want to live.

Oh, the cover is especially wonderful and the size of the book makes it perfect to stash away in your long black coat as you wander aimlessly through graveyards in the middle of the night.

~TheRebeccaReview.com