The Signs

I haven’t dived into creating my birth chart quite yet, but the book is very easy to read and understand. Took away a star because although it was wrapped in plastic wrap, my cover experienced some damage. There is a weird sticker residue spot on the back and the navy color is bleeding/showing through the white on the cover art. The edges of the book also show wear. This is just after taking the plastic wrap off.😐

Not for lay people. I think you need to have a Master’s in Science to be able to use all the charts. My Master’s is in Humanities so I was lost. You have to use complex, small-printed charts and do all the calculations.

Nice value. Looks good and will make a great gift for my granddaughter.

I’ve just started diving deep into Astrology. This is an easy way to learn about birth charts and the signs. Great book and love the cover design.

Good read

Perfect.

I'll start my review by saying that I am not a believer of follower of astrology but I have always found the topic interesting and as a writer, it's nice to have a knowledge of a lot of offbeat things to keep your writing interesting. No one says that you have to agree with or believe in what you find in a book to admire the quality of or the craftsmanship of writing in a book--and I admire the writing of this book a great deal. Interestingly, one of my best and oldest friends in life is one of the world's most highly-regarded astrologers. He knows that I'm not a devotee, but that I respect his work a great deal--he's very serious about it and he's devoted his life to helping others through his work.OK, so what did I find so interesting about this particular book? Well, for one, Carolyne Faulkner (and the name caught my eye, speaking of writers) is a very talented writer. This book is beautifully organized for someone that wants a good and quite detailed overview of the world of astrology. The text is divided into four basic sections (and just this organization helped me to understand the topic better): How to Read Your Chart, The Planets, The Signs and The Houses.I found the How to Read Your Chart chapter particularly interesting and well explained and at the end of it she actually uses the chart of artist Salvador Dali to help pull all the threads that she discusses in that chapter into a great functional example of how a chart can be interpreted. I'm still unclear on why you'd want to read your own chart because as I understand it most people pay an astrologer to create the chart and that person then explains it to them. But I supposed this is something you can refer to over time on your own and so knowing how to read it is actually pretty important.Like most people, the first chapter that I turned to was on the signs (Sun King Leo that I am, I wanted to read about myself first--but you'll see what a benevolent ruler I am by the generosity of this review, lol). One thing I found really fun and interesting was a twist the author uses in describing the personality traits of each sign is that she explains them in terms of those who have "gone wrong" and those who have "gone right." What a riot. One of my other good friends is a great magician and he'd tell you flat out, that's her "out." That's the gimmick she uses to cover her bases if the audience starts to grumble about the trick. But hey, he's a magician and he looks behind the curtain too deeply, lol. I found it a fun way to see the two sides that each sign can potentially display. Anyway, I think I "went right" and I loved reading about my bravery, humor, loyalty, integrity and generosity (pile it on baby, I love it). I pretty much skimmed the "gone wrong" pages (OK, I'm kidding, I did read them).Anyway, this is not your basic high school "is he right for me" book about relationships and whether you buy the premise and the info or not, Faulkner does a good job of explaining the personalities of different signs. She lost me a bit in the chapter on Houses but by that time my head was getting a bit star crossed and I'd already gotten most of what I was going to get from the book. I'm sure someone who is more deeply aligned with reading about the stars will get more from that chapter. I will reread it.Faulker is a very good writer. There is no wasted rambling in this book. The author stays on point, she is organized and, as a fiction writer, I will use this book as a reference in many different ways. For all of these reasons, I give the book a whole hearted five stars. Being the kind and generous ruler that I am, I can do no less (or no more).

This book is a practical guide to the basics of astrology and understanding a natal (birth) chart. The content is well organized, as Faulkner guides the reader through an overview of the planets, signs, and houses, which make up the content of an astrological chart. Understanding the archetypal characteristics that are charted in astrology does give valuable insight into oneself and others. The book explains what it looks like when a person has "gone right" or has "gone wrong" with the tendencies of their birth sign, showing the positive potentials as well as the shadow aspects that may manifest. Some famous historical persons' charts are shown as examples in this book. This book is ideal for anyone just beginning to explore astrology. It does not include more advanced topics that would be of interest to professional astrologers but it provides enough to begin looking at birth charts and seeing what they reveal about a person. Be aware that astrology is fairly complex, so there is much diversity among people born under the same sign since there are many planets to look at in the chart and how they fall in the 12 houses. You need to explore the full chart and not just identify your Sun sign. This book is fairly compact in size, and the typeface is somewhat small, so it has a lot of information but may have you straining your vision a bit.