Symbols are often seen as constituting an international language and to some extent they do, but that language is far from universal--context means everything in this complicated but engrossing form of communication.

Take, for example, a cross, a crane, or a swastika: each one has a different and distinct significance and meaning for a Buddhist, an art historian, or a student of the occult. 1000 Symbols resolves the problem by offering groupings of related symbols, every one with a neat definition of its history and its cross-cultural meanings.