Rating:  Summary: Very Useful Review: As a resource for referencing symbols (by name not glyph), this book is one of the best I have found. Although more Eesoteric than, say, Archetypal, it provides much good information.
Rating:  Summary: A Dictionary of Words Review: I can not comprehend how this book got published without a single symbol illustration. I was tempted to give it zero or only 1 star, but the text is good - very thorough. It is therefore useful if you know the glyph or symbol you're interested in, but is not a book of discovery and imagination.The layout and presentation is horrible - a small, very fat book with tiny print. Not as intellectually deep, but still very comprehensive and a lot more useful and usable, is Carl G. Liungman's Dictionary of Symbols. It has illustrations, groupings, big print and everything! Get it first, and if you then want to get way deep into the esoteric, maybe Chevalier is for you. Also, try symbols.com for a quick online reference. I find it pretty helpful, too.
Rating:  Summary: Bad publisher Review: I have about a dozen symbol books... most of the classics. This one is the best for interpreting those strange symbols in your dreams, daydreams, etc. It is not the shallow stupid interpretations "you are going on a journey..." stuff, but true archetypical and esoteric interpretations.
Rating:  Summary: Best esoteric symbol interpretation I have seen Review: I have about a dozen symbol books... most of the classics. This one is the best for interpreting those strange symbols in your dreams, daydreams, etc. It is not the shallow stupid interpretations "you are going on a journey..." stuff, but true archetypical and esoteric interpretations.
Rating:  Summary: excellent dictionary in scope and depth Review: i have known this dictionary in the french original for about 20 years now and recommend it again and again to students. i have always hoped that it could become available for non french readers. finally! as a jungian analyst, i find the dictionary extremely helpful: it does an extraordinary job of displaying the breadth of symbolic meanings involved in so many symbols that are still very much alive in people today. the refence to various cultures is especially important in our multi-cultural world.. i am very thankful for this translation into english and hope the german translation will follow soon.
Rating:  Summary: The Cadillac of Symbol Books Review: I have studied symbols and observed them in my life for over 30 years, and at latest count own over 20 books on symbols. Unfortunately, after I had obtained about five of them, the succeeding ones became mostly just
Rating:  Summary: Bad publisher Review: I saw this book in the Spanish translation, a real encyclopedia full of graphics, alkaline paper, and hardback. Amazon sells this one .... This version in English is austere, printed on newspaper bad quality paper- the ink stains fingers, the pages rip as you turn them. This ... quality does a disservice to the authors, who have spent their lives compending this fabulous work.
Rating:  Summary: Not Graphical! Review: I wanted a dictionary that contained graphical representations of symbols, not just a textual reference. I was very disappointed when I received it.
Rating:  Summary: A book full of surprise Review: My teacher recommanded this dictionary to me (she got a copy of original French version). After I got this book I had a quick check of it. However, I couldn't stop when I started reading it! I found myself being "absorbed" in this book! I read it not as a dictionary but a book full of surprise. Although there ain't so many beautiful pictures in this book, I'd still like to recommand it. But if you want a book full of pictures, just choose the Norton one.
Rating:  Summary: Dictionary for Thinkers Review: This is a thinker's dictionary, not a guide to road signs and icons. The editors took the trouble to recruit symbol experts from many different professions, ranging from the paranormal to the skeptical academic. The result is a dictionary with entries that have more depth than the usual "quick hits" that other symbolism dictionaries give you. Chevalier is not afraid to give contradictory or contrasting meanings of icons. (He is not a universalist, but a relativist.) He is usually careful to identify the culture in which a particular meaning is given. I keep this in easy reach on my bookshelf, reminding myself, however, that no dictionary on this subject can possibly cover all the meanings a symbol may have. It is worth having around.
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