Should I read it from beginning to end?
No, the calendar arrangement invites browsing: start with your birthday, then compare its portrait with those of people you know. The introductory sections explain the symbolism behind the entries.
Nonfiction · Reference · Psychology · Religion & Spirituality
The Secret Language of Birthdays
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 36 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 832 pagesAvery · 2013
- Reading time
- 16 h 45 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Variable
- Emotional intensity
- 1 / 5
About 16 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 34 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
An astrology reference guide, The Secret Language of Birthdays assigns a personality profile to every date, including February 29. Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers combine astrology, numerology, tarot, and Goldschneider’s observations of people into a system they call personology. Each entry describes the strengths and difficulties they associate with that birthday, offers advice, and lists notable people born on the same date.
Reader notes
The calendar arrangement invites browsing: look up your own birthday, then compare its portrait with those of people you know. Introductory sections explain the symbolism behind the entries; the profiles themselves offer interpretive character sketches grounded in the authors’ esoteric system.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Conversational · Descriptive · Direct
- Tone
- Earnest · Reflective
- Structure
- Reference
- Driven by
- Ideas · Information
- Practical orientation
- Reference
- Nonfiction form
- Reference
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 2 / 5
- Ideas
- 2 / 5
- Structure
- 2 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Identity
Content notes
- Violence
- None
- Sexual content
- None
- Swearing
- None
- Substance use
- None
- Abuse
- None
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Series and reading order
Secret Language
- 1The Secret Language of Birthdays · This book · 1994
- 3The Secret Language of Destiny · 1999
Questions readers ask
Do I need to know astrology to follow it?
No, the introductory sections explain the symbolism behind the birthday entries, and the prose is conversational and direct. The character sketches draw on the authors’ system of astrology, numerology, tarot, and personal observations.
Who is it best suited to?
It suits someone interested in exploring personality and identity through astrology and other esoteric traditions. Each birthday entry offers a character sketch, associated strengths and difficulties, advice, and notable people born on that date.
How long is it?
832 pages in the Avery 2013 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Avery · 2013 · paperback. ISBN 9780525426882.
What is the order of books in Secret Language?
1. The Secret Language of Birthdays; 3. The Secret Language of Destiny.
How long does it take to read The Secret Language of Birthdays?
About 16 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 832-page Avery edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the authors
Gary Goldschneider
Gary Goldschneider was a writer, astrologer, pianist, composer, and personologist whose work joined systematic personality typing to the symbolic traditions of astrology, numerology, and tarot. He is best known for the Secret Language reference books, developed from his study of more than 14,000 people. Rather than presenting a continuous theory, Goldschneider organized character portraits around dates and date combinations, making his systems easy to consult and compare. The Secret Language of Birthdays maps temperaments, strengths, and difficulties onto each day of the year, while The Secret Language of Relationships applies the same comparative method to bonds among partners, relatives, friends, and colleagues. The Secret Language of Destiny extends this approach to proposed life paths and recurring behavioral challenges. Across the series, his central interest was the classification of individual character and interpersonal patterns through birth information. His musical career showed a related appetite for large structures and sustained concentration: as a pianist, he performed complete cycles of Beethoven and Mozart sonatas in single sittings.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Avery
- Publication year
- 2013
- Format
- paperback
- Pages
- 832
- ISBN
- 9780525426882
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 1994
- Genres and form
- Nonfiction · Reference · Psychology · Religion & Spirituality
- Editions
- 11
- Languages
- 4 (English, Spanish, Russian, Unspecified)