This book is intended as research. It has been written so the average reader will be able to see the fascinating patterns of symbolic mathematics and geometry hidden in the design of the dollar bill. Much of its esoteric symbolism will be shown and analyzed from history of the long train of tradition that led up to the dollar's present design. Although some of these ideas easily lead to wide ranging philosophical speculation, (and I reserve the right to drag out the soapbox occasionally). I will, none the less, try to maintain a neutral or scientific approach to these topics.
Most of this story has been written in the first-person, like a letter to the reader--like a notebook. In order that the reasoning that led me to these discoveries might be more easily understood, I have tried to show my slow progress and mistakes more or less as they happened, and the gradual development of my thinking as I went along. But to all of this I will add some hindsight, and a certain amount of convenient arrangement of the order of some of the discoveries for clarity. Without this, most of my starting points of investigation and conclusions will not be understandable, and many of my earlier dubious paths can be left unsaid.
Since this curious and strange design is not yet completely known or fully analyzed, this investigation is by no means finished and should be an invitation for more adventurous readers to make their own discoveries. This study is a much larger task than it would appear at first glance. This writing will provide many of the mathematical keys and clues to enable readers to start to investigate on their own, or to demonstrate to themselves the validity of those things shown here. But these are hidden symbols--both philosophical and mathematical--and as such, need to be puzzled out.