Summary
This informative and engaging illustrated reference provides the stories behind 1,001 signs and symbols, from ancient hieroglyphs to modern-day political and subculture symbols.
What in the world does Ω mean? And what about its meaning might have led my coffee date to tattoo it on his entire forearm? Where did the symbol ∞ originate, and what was its first meaning? How did the ampersand symbol & come about and how was it applied daily in book publishing? And what is the full story behind that staring eye on top of the pyramid on our American dollar bill? This comprehensive guide to signs and symbols explains.
Find within:
- More than 1,000 illustrations
- An extensive collection of written and cultural symbols, including animals, instruments, stones, shapes, numbers, colors, plants, food, parts of the body, religious and astrological symbols, emojis, and gestures
- Historical facts culled from a wide variety of sources
Learn all about the signs and symbols that surround us and their part in our rich world history.
Author Biography
D.R. McElroy has a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and a Master of Science in Environmental Resources. She is the co-author of Celestial Watercolor and has been a professional editor and writer for ten years. She lives in Michigan.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Symbols in everyday life: tats, arts, logos, traffic, emblems
Describe book in generalities
Overview
Define symbols, signs, sigils, glyphs, emblems, insignia, vectors, amulets, talismans,
icons, pictograms/graphs, ideograms/graphs, trigrams
Chap. 1
Alchemy
Chap. 2
Astrology
Chap. 3
Business: logos, fonts, colors, hidden meanings, manufacturing
Chap. 4
Celtic
Chap. 5
Chemical: periodic table, compounds
Chap. 6
Computer: tech symbols, Unicode
Keyboard: emoticons, emoji
Chap. 7
Currency
Chap. 8
Games
Chap. 9
Ideograms
Chap. 10
Languages: including evolution of symbols
Alphabets: similarities and differences
Chap. 11
Mathematics
Chap. 12
Medical
Chap. 13
Military: awards, insignia, emblems
Chap. 14
Music
Chap. 15
Mythology (around the world)
Chap. 16
Pictograms
Chap. 17
Popular gestures
Chap. 18
Religious
Chap. 19
Sex (different symbols for male and female)
Chap. 20
Sigils
Chap. 21
Symbols
Chap. 22
Transportation: signs, directions, lines, hazards, identification
Chap. 23
Writing and Editing: brackets v. braces, editing and proof marks
Chap. 24
Wrap up
Index