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The Voynich Manuscript: The Unsolved Riddle of an Extraordinary Book Which has Defied Interpretation for Centuries
In 1912, Wilfrid Voynich, an antiquarian book dealer, stumbled upon a strange volume, its vellum pages covered in a beautiful but unrecognisable script accompanied by equally mystifying pictures. The codex has remained undeciphered from that day to this. Voynich believed the codex to be the work of medieval philosopher Roger Bacon, others that of the Elizabethan mathematician and occultist John Dee. Whoever created the book—which now resides at Yale University—it remains to this day a singular enigma which continues to defy the best efforts of linguists, cryptologists, and scholars. With the benefit of the authors' exhaustive research, readers can hazard their own guesses as to the meaning and provenance of this most beguiling of mysteries.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2004
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August 12, 2021
Numerous reviewers (of this book and others) have outlined the main theories about the Voynich Manuscript, so rather than just repeating them all, I thought I’d give you mine instead.
Hand-written on vellum sheets (radiocarbon-dated to the early fifteenth century), Beinecke MS408 does at least look mediaeval. In fact, it looks like a lot of things: one section could be a traditional herbal—lots of illustrations of plants, sketched in ink then infilled with watercolour; another section has what look like astrological charts…then there are those weird nude-bathing scenes…oh, and the text itself has never been deciphered. Well, alright then, it looks like nothing else you’ve ever seen.
This is what has become known as the Voynich Manuscript (after the Polish dealer in rare books who, supposedly, rediscovered it in 1912) and it could almost have been written in a different universe: among those hundreds of plants, for example, not one has ever been unequivocally identified by botanists; a couple do look vaguely familiar (“that one could be a sunflower, that one…a violet?…maybe”) but only vaguely, like the botany of an alien planet. But what has attracted worldwide scrutiny, above all, is the indecipherable writing which fills much of this battered little book: far more beautiful than the illustrations—done in a sort of unidentified copperplate, and without a single crossing-out anywhere—this has so far defied all attempts at decipherment by, among others, some of World War Two’s top code-breakers, or by modern computers.
Kennedy and Churchill’s book has much about ciphers and decipherment; about historical figures who may have written, owned (or forged) the manuscript; and about all those theories: from the sensible-but-wrong ones, such as that it was written by Roger Bacon in the 13th century, to the wackier suggestions (that it is the work of aliens etc., etc). By the end of it, I’d myself come round to the conclusion that the thing definitely is a forgery—and Wilfred Voynich himself the likeliest forger. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of precisely this sort of thing, knew what could be (and what would not be) in a manuscript from the Middle Ages; he was an expert in mediaeval ciphers; he had his own supply of vellum (even sold it in his shop); and he was an unscrupulous con-man not above swindling a community of monks out of their priceless collection of books and illuminated manuscripts, in return for (his own phrase this) “a cartload of modern trash.”
In other words, he had everything he needed to forge this thing—except perhaps the imagination. There is, though, one other character in this story: his intelligent and extremely talented wife Ethel, and she was everything he wasn’t: while he was a flamboyant and roguish charmer, a liar and jack-the-lad, she was calculating, intellectual and artistic. A few years earlier she had been smuggling copies of Marx and Engels into pre-revolutionary Russia; a few years later she would be writing novels (the first an international best-seller no less) and composing operas. They were the perfect combination: his knowledge, her imagination. Moreover, the two of them lurched along from one financial crisis to the next, making money then losing it all again. The price Voynich put on his manuscript after its “rediscovery” was $160,000 (in 1912!) and I reckon this was a (failed) attempt to solve all their financial worries, for ever, in one go. He devised the script and wrote the text in his spidery scrawl; she (and this bit is my theory) copied it on to the vellum in her more meticulous handwriting (and, I reckon, did the illustrations as well).
In fact, I can easily imagine it being her idea in the first place. They’re sitting at home in front of the fire one evening, flat broke yet again, him thumbing through a dealer’s catalogue, when Ethel suddenly looks up from her needlepoint:
“Hey. You know what we should do…”
You heard it here first.
Hand-written on vellum sheets (radiocarbon-dated to the early fifteenth century), Beinecke MS408 does at least look mediaeval. In fact, it looks like a lot of things: one section could be a traditional herbal—lots of illustrations of plants, sketched in ink then infilled with watercolour; another section has what look like astrological charts…then there are those weird nude-bathing scenes…oh, and the text itself has never been deciphered. Well, alright then, it looks like nothing else you’ve ever seen.
This is what has become known as the Voynich Manuscript (after the Polish dealer in rare books who, supposedly, rediscovered it in 1912) and it could almost have been written in a different universe: among those hundreds of plants, for example, not one has ever been unequivocally identified by botanists; a couple do look vaguely familiar (“that one could be a sunflower, that one…a violet?…maybe”) but only vaguely, like the botany of an alien planet. But what has attracted worldwide scrutiny, above all, is the indecipherable writing which fills much of this battered little book: far more beautiful than the illustrations—done in a sort of unidentified copperplate, and without a single crossing-out anywhere—this has so far defied all attempts at decipherment by, among others, some of World War Two’s top code-breakers, or by modern computers.
Kennedy and Churchill’s book has much about ciphers and decipherment; about historical figures who may have written, owned (or forged) the manuscript; and about all those theories: from the sensible-but-wrong ones, such as that it was written by Roger Bacon in the 13th century, to the wackier suggestions (that it is the work of aliens etc., etc). By the end of it, I’d myself come round to the conclusion that the thing definitely is a forgery—and Wilfred Voynich himself the likeliest forger. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of precisely this sort of thing, knew what could be (and what would not be) in a manuscript from the Middle Ages; he was an expert in mediaeval ciphers; he had his own supply of vellum (even sold it in his shop); and he was an unscrupulous con-man not above swindling a community of monks out of their priceless collection of books and illuminated manuscripts, in return for (his own phrase this) “a cartload of modern trash.”
In other words, he had everything he needed to forge this thing—except perhaps the imagination. There is, though, one other character in this story: his intelligent and extremely talented wife Ethel, and she was everything he wasn’t: while he was a flamboyant and roguish charmer, a liar and jack-the-lad, she was calculating, intellectual and artistic. A few years earlier she had been smuggling copies of Marx and Engels into pre-revolutionary Russia; a few years later she would be writing novels (the first an international best-seller no less) and composing operas. They were the perfect combination: his knowledge, her imagination. Moreover, the two of them lurched along from one financial crisis to the next, making money then losing it all again. The price Voynich put on his manuscript after its “rediscovery” was $160,000 (in 1912!) and I reckon this was a (failed) attempt to solve all their financial worries, for ever, in one go. He devised the script and wrote the text in his spidery scrawl; she (and this bit is my theory) copied it on to the vellum in her more meticulous handwriting (and, I reckon, did the illustrations as well).
In fact, I can easily imagine it being her idea in the first place. They’re sitting at home in front of the fire one evening, flat broke yet again, him thumbing through a dealer’s catalogue, when Ethel suddenly looks up from her needlepoint:
“Hey. You know what we should do…”
You heard it here first.
January 20, 2019
Along with Gobekli Tepe and the Lead Books (found in Jordan), The Voynich Manuscript is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. It is definitely the only book catalogued at Goodreads that cannot be read by anyone in the true sense of the meaning!
The Voynich is written in an unknown writing system in the early 15th century that has never been seen before or since. Some experts assume that it is written in a substitution cipher, and 600 years of studies have not been able to work out the language.
I think those who study the Voynich, has no clue what they are doing. They seem to have their own idea of what they want the manuscript to be, and they make it fit that view. The truth is, no one has deciphered the Voynich to this day. What you find here are different views of experts.
The Voynich contains drawings of unidentified plants, of enigmatic charts, and of nude women bathing together in some strange bizarre tubs. If you are interested in any of the above check this out at https://archive.org
Personally, I think this is a big joke of some medieval scholar.
The Voynich is written in an unknown writing system in the early 15th century that has never been seen before or since. Some experts assume that it is written in a substitution cipher, and 600 years of studies have not been able to work out the language.
I think those who study the Voynich, has no clue what they are doing. They seem to have their own idea of what they want the manuscript to be, and they make it fit that view. The truth is, no one has deciphered the Voynich to this day. What you find here are different views of experts.
The Voynich contains drawings of unidentified plants, of enigmatic charts, and of nude women bathing together in some strange bizarre tubs. If you are interested in any of the above check this out at https://archive.org
Personally, I think this is a big joke of some medieval scholar.
July 14, 2020
Some kid back in the 12th century, with his colored inks, wrote out a fantasy manuscript of an imaginary alphabet complete with oodles of doodles. And now centuries later every cryptologist has been knocking themselves out trying to solve "the puzzle". Good going, kid!
Lot's of good information here, but to what end? For years I've invented alphabets and solved cryptograms, my favorite pastimes, besides reading. Maybe one day I'll write up a manuscript illustrated with doodles and befuddle the experts in the 30th century.
Lot's of good information here, but to what end? For years I've invented alphabets and solved cryptograms, my favorite pastimes, besides reading. Maybe one day I'll write up a manuscript illustrated with doodles and befuddle the experts in the 30th century.
January 7, 2009
The most interesting book that will have you asleep in nine pages or less.
February 28, 2017
Unique mystery manuscript - undeciphered, unintelligible. Real? Fake?
Defied interpretation for at least one century
Defied interpretation for at least one century
September 30, 2021
Over the couple of weeks I've been reading this book, I've had a number of conversations about it where people said things along the lines of, "Oh, is that the one that got deciphered a little while back?" Hilariously, they were always talking about a different claim. So I've been reading this book alongside supplementary paddling in the ongoing shenanigans related to this magnificently zany manuscript since this book was published in 2004. (It's been carbon-dated since. Does that help solve the mystery? ...not really! The whole thing has also been made available online so you can really boggle at the weirdnesses.)
Anyway, this book was a great time for me. I love an esoteric conspiracy theory, and there are Voynich theories that hit all the old favourites and then some. I also love an opportunity to learn all sorts of weird facts and areas, and this provided sidelong introductions to Roger Bacon, cryptography and -analysis, the history of Hieroglyphic interpretation, the Cathars, medieval medicine, migrainous hallucinations and religious visions, antiquarian book trading and the wild life of Wilfred Voynich, among many other fascinating things.
What do I think it is? I haven't the faintest idea, but honestly, it looks like nothing so much as the doodling of a creative mind, a wild but idle piece of creativity, like some wild mish-mash of bullet-journal page-design, scrapbooking, worldbuilding and thought-experiment. I like the idea that this was never intended to have an audience, and it's therefore flummoxed centuries-worth of people who are having as much fun wrestling with it as I hope the creators had making it.
Anyway, this book was a great time for me. I love an esoteric conspiracy theory, and there are Voynich theories that hit all the old favourites and then some. I also love an opportunity to learn all sorts of weird facts and areas, and this provided sidelong introductions to Roger Bacon, cryptography and -analysis, the history of Hieroglyphic interpretation, the Cathars, medieval medicine, migrainous hallucinations and religious visions, antiquarian book trading and the wild life of Wilfred Voynich, among many other fascinating things.
What do I think it is? I haven't the faintest idea, but honestly, it looks like nothing so much as the doodling of a creative mind, a wild but idle piece of creativity, like some wild mish-mash of bullet-journal page-design, scrapbooking, worldbuilding and thought-experiment. I like the idea that this was never intended to have an audience, and it's therefore flummoxed centuries-worth of people who are having as much fun wrestling with it as I hope the creators had making it.
Read
February 6, 2020 Good day!
I am deciphering the manuscript of Voynich and got positive results.
There is a key to cipher the Voynich manuscript.
The key to the cipher manuscript placed in the manuscript. It is placed throughout the text. Part of the key hints is placed on the sheet 14. With her help was able to translate a few dozen words that are completely relevant to the theme sections.
The Voynich manuscript is not written with letters. It is written in signs. Characters replace the letters of the alphabet one of the ancient language. Moreover, in the text there are 2 levels of encryption. I figured out the key by which the first section could read the following words: hemp, wearing hemp; food, food (sheet 20 at the numbering on the Internet); to clean (gut), knowledge, perhaps the desire, to drink, sweet beverage (nectar), maturation (maturity), to consider, to believe (sheet 107); to drink; six; flourishing; increasing; intense; peas; sweet drink, nectar, etc. Is just the short words, 2-3 sign. To translate words with more than 2-3 characters requires knowledge of this ancient language. The fact that some symbols represent two letters. In the end, the word consisting of three characters can fit up to six letters. Three letters are superfluous. In the end, you need six characters to define the semantic word of three letters. Of course, without knowledge of this language make it very difficult even with a dictionary.
And most important. In the manuscript there is information about "the Holy Grail".
I'm willing to share information.
Nikolai.
I am deciphering the manuscript of Voynich and got positive results.
There is a key to cipher the Voynich manuscript.
The key to the cipher manuscript placed in the manuscript. It is placed throughout the text. Part of the key hints is placed on the sheet 14. With her help was able to translate a few dozen words that are completely relevant to the theme sections.
The Voynich manuscript is not written with letters. It is written in signs. Characters replace the letters of the alphabet one of the ancient language. Moreover, in the text there are 2 levels of encryption. I figured out the key by which the first section could read the following words: hemp, wearing hemp; food, food (sheet 20 at the numbering on the Internet); to clean (gut), knowledge, perhaps the desire, to drink, sweet beverage (nectar), maturation (maturity), to consider, to believe (sheet 107); to drink; six; flourishing; increasing; intense; peas; sweet drink, nectar, etc. Is just the short words, 2-3 sign. To translate words with more than 2-3 characters requires knowledge of this ancient language. The fact that some symbols represent two letters. In the end, the word consisting of three characters can fit up to six letters. Three letters are superfluous. In the end, you need six characters to define the semantic word of three letters. Of course, without knowledge of this language make it very difficult even with a dictionary.
And most important. In the manuscript there is information about "the Holy Grail".
I'm willing to share information.
Nikolai.
April 9, 2020
I don't know what I thought this book would be. I had come across a reference to the manuscript (I can't remember where) and was curious. I knew nothing about it when I read this book. You don't have to. All you need is a love of the mysterious. It is an interesting subject and an interesting book. It follows the manuscript from the day it was found through all the various people who have owned it, or studied it. It gives you all the theories about who wrote it and where it came from. It gives you all the different ways people have tried to decode or translate the text. And on this journey it ends up covering a lot of ground. It talks about cryptography and the ways codes are made and broken. It gives you a brief history of Roger Bacon and John Dee and others. It talked about the Cathars and the Shakers. It went into the effects migraines can have on people. And mentions a lot of other people and topics that have been brought into the Voynich conversation over the years. I liked exploring the wide variety of subjects that all formed pieces in the puzzle. There is a lot of information here but it is not overwhelming and it never bogs down in tedium. It is all presented in a way that is easy to follow and enjoyable to read. It does intrigue the reader. You end up wanting to know what it is all about. You can understand why people have spent years of their lives working on this. Spoiler Alert: There is no translation at the end of this book. There are no definitive answers. But I enjoyed exploring the mystery.
January 29, 2025
This was genuinely challenging to read. I wish it was because the information is mind blowing and dense. However, you’ll often find phrases like “…pure nonsensical nonsense” and essentially repeated sentences about what the Voynich manuscript is. I think I got it the first time. It has strong essences of a college student’s poorly written final paper. If it’s people like this trying to interpret the manuscript, no wonder we haven’t found a translation for the script.
I am so disappointed. Don’t waste your time on this one. There are many other books on this topic worth reading.
I am so disappointed. Don’t waste your time on this one. There are many other books on this topic worth reading.
December 27, 2024
Well-written and comprehensive.
For anyone who would like to do further research: since this book was published in 2004, there have been various studies on the Voynich Manuscript. Notably, in 2009, the manuscript was carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404-1438). This doesn't eliminate the possibility of a forgery, but the lack of carbon-dating is brought up by the authors as a key point in certain theories. Thought I'd mention.
Great read!
For anyone who would like to do further research: since this book was published in 2004, there have been various studies on the Voynich Manuscript. Notably, in 2009, the manuscript was carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404-1438). This doesn't eliminate the possibility of a forgery, but the lack of carbon-dating is brought up by the authors as a key point in certain theories. Thought I'd mention.
Great read!
February 20, 2017
Considering my fondness of Hisperic Literature in its various manifestations , I could not get through this book. I will revisit…
July 5, 2019
Here is the conclusion of this entire matter:
Voynich manuscript: inconclusive...
This book about the Voynich manuscript: inconclusive...
The end...
Voynich manuscript: inconclusive...
This book about the Voynich manuscript: inconclusive...
The end...
May 18, 2020
Great for a complete history of the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript, but not really delivered in an interesting way.
June 7, 2021
A search in a manuscript of vague signs attributed to Bacon . Looks as a thriller on the changing status of the manuscript .
October 30, 2022
Very interesting. Excellent prints.
April 29, 2024
Intriguing topic, extraordinary mystery but drily written and unable to finish.
October 20, 2024
Cannot finish
February 6, 2025
voynich Manuscript
False advertising. I wanted the manuscript, not some lame explanation. Very overpriced and disappointing. Not happy at all. I got nipped.
False advertising. I wanted the manuscript, not some lame explanation. Very overpriced and disappointing. Not happy at all. I got nipped.
December 3, 2010
Literary adventurers pounce on the opportunity to become enchanted by mysterious codes, their origins and authors shrouded in secrecy. Such curiosities allow their readers to take up magnifying glasses and burn midnight oil, fancying themselves the one to provide decades-hidden insight. It is with such vigor that one approaches The Voynich Manuscript, by Gerry Kennedy and Rob Churchill. The authors deliver a thorough exploration of a potentially insightful Goddess-oriented manuscript against a paternalistic playground of men attempting to understand and exploit it. To that end, this book is more about the story of the key figures and life around the manuscript, than it is on providing a solid focus on decoding the codex, itself. Found in 1912 by Wilfrid Voynich, the legacy of the manuscript came under public scrutiny, where it remains still. Kennedy learned at the funeral of a family member that Voynich was a distant relative of his. Through that lens the introduction of the text is quite personal, though the book quickly progresses into academic detailing of the manuscript's supposed journey into the present.
Through many conjectures about the linguistic origins of the text and the possible influences of its outlandish astrological and horticultural illustrations, there is still little known about the origins of the manuscript. Cryptologists may enjoy the abundance of chapters devoted to the meticulous methods employed in attempting to decipher the code. More esoteric types may resonate with the scant pages lending it to being a written account of glossolalia (speaking in tongues), or the artful result of medieval mental illness. The authors even give rich exploration to the possibility that the manuscript is a hoax. Whatever impression readers take from the research behind this book about the Voynich Manuscript, without doubt they will have been impressed by the legacy and mystery of its path.
Comment Comment | Permalink
Through many conjectures about the linguistic origins of the text and the possible influences of its outlandish astrological and horticultural illustrations, there is still little known about the origins of the manuscript. Cryptologists may enjoy the abundance of chapters devoted to the meticulous methods employed in attempting to decipher the code. More esoteric types may resonate with the scant pages lending it to being a written account of glossolalia (speaking in tongues), or the artful result of medieval mental illness. The authors even give rich exploration to the possibility that the manuscript is a hoax. Whatever impression readers take from the research behind this book about the Voynich Manuscript, without doubt they will have been impressed by the legacy and mystery of its path.
Comment Comment | Permalink
October 21, 2013
Fantastic book! The authors look at many aspects of the manuscript and examine each one detailing both what's likely and what's not possible about each. When it comes right down to it, no one really knows what this manuscript is. It might be legitimate or it could be a hoax or fraud. It might be the creation of a lunatic, or a lost language. It might be a phonetic alphabet helping to translate a foreign language. And then, what about the drawings? Are the fantastical plants pure imagination or an apothecary cookbook? Or maybe an alchemical manual or a horticultural guide.
It's a captivating manuscript and the authors do a good job of examining the thing. The authors say what they believe to be the most likely reason behind the manuscript, but they remain remarkably even keeled throughout the book, never advancing one theory over another yet detailing what's likely and what's no in each one presented. They try to track the provenance of it and spend a good deal of time trying to follow the various personalities that have come in contact with the book.
A must read.
(A web search shows that the manuscript has finally been carbon dated to the mid-to-late 15th century, but that does little to pin down the actual date since it could easily have been old vellum used in its creation. This carbon dating was done after publication of the book and one of the chapters examines just how old it is.)
It's a captivating manuscript and the authors do a good job of examining the thing. The authors say what they believe to be the most likely reason behind the manuscript, but they remain remarkably even keeled throughout the book, never advancing one theory over another yet detailing what's likely and what's no in each one presented. They try to track the provenance of it and spend a good deal of time trying to follow the various personalities that have come in contact with the book.
A must read.
(A web search shows that the manuscript has finally been carbon dated to the mid-to-late 15th century, but that does little to pin down the actual date since it could easily have been old vellum used in its creation. This carbon dating was done after publication of the book and one of the chapters examines just how old it is.)
February 2, 2016
I am probably only going to read one book about the Voynich Manuscript, and I'm glad it was this one; I did research first, trying to figure out which one was the most comprehensive. This book is surprisingly well written, surprisingly scholarly, and very balanced and thorough, giving the reader enough background, information, and state of the debate to make his or her own tentative conclusion about the Manuscript. Personally, I am, like one of the co-authors of this book, leaning strongly toward modern hoax, probably by Voynich. But I am open to the possibility that it is a centuries-old work of what we'd now call "outsider art"--i.e., the product of a neuro-atypical mind pursuing a personal project with no intent necessarily to communicate anything to anyone else. In either case, that would mean that the writing in the manuscript is not a code or a cipher but something designed merely to resemble a natural language. It reminds me a lot of some works at an exhibit of art by autistic people that I saw once. And I personally think that the illustrations depict a biological interpretation of the transmigration of souls, with the naked "nymphs" being a representation of souls in the bardo. But who the hell knows?! The important next step is for someone to convince Yale University--which houses the original--to allow carbon-dating and other testing upon it. In fact, there should be a mass movement to petition Yale to do this. I'm surprised that isn't a bigger issue.
July 20, 2016
In the early 20th century, Wilfrid Voynich announced that he had found a mysterious medieval manuscript in Southern France. This manuscript is filled with unreadable text and indecipherable illustrations of plants, people, and stars. This book reviews the intriguing history of what has happened since - a variety of academics and others trying to interpret the contents of this manuscript, which is currently held by the Beinecke Library at Yale. It's an interesting read - I had never heard of the manuscript until shortly before I ran across this book. The color plates and other illustrations demonstrate what the authors call the sheer "weirdness" of the manuscript. It's just not normal. At a first glance, it looks like an ordinary medieval text. But it has resisted all efforts to read the text, and even the illustrations of plants have proved unidentifiable. The authors posit no grand theory regarding the manuscript, so if you're up on Voynich, you might want to skip this. But this was a comprehensive introduction for the uninitiated.
October 6, 2008
I have long been intrigued, possibly obsessed, by the actual Voynich Manuscript, an enigmatic collection of undecipherable codes and illustrations, of undetermined age and authorship, i.e. no one knows what it is, when it was made, or where it came from. It surfaced a century or so ago. It could be a lot of things, including a diabolically clever hoax.
Perhaps this should have been titled, "More Than You Ever Realized You Didn't Need To Know About the Voynich Manuscript." The book is a long drawn-out study that goes into possibilities and probabilities, perhaps in more detail than is necessary. The history and various forms of ciphers are studied. The history and various forms of ecstatic drawing are covered. The history and various forms of scripts are looked at. The history and various forms on forgeries and literary hoaxes are studied. I wanted the information, and so read the entire thing, but in the end I was relieved it was all over. Fascinating but: Enough already!
Perhaps this should have been titled, "More Than You Ever Realized You Didn't Need To Know About the Voynich Manuscript." The book is a long drawn-out study that goes into possibilities and probabilities, perhaps in more detail than is necessary. The history and various forms of ciphers are studied. The history and various forms of ecstatic drawing are covered. The history and various forms of scripts are looked at. The history and various forms on forgeries and literary hoaxes are studied. I wanted the information, and so read the entire thing, but in the end I was relieved it was all over. Fascinating but: Enough already!
May 29, 2013
The book that cannot be read
I love a good mystery! The Voynich Manuscript is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. I can't say I have read this book...no one has, in the true sense of the meaning! It is written in an unknown language, lavishly illustrated, with strange plants, animals and astrological signs. It imbues a timeless essence of 'something.'
I love this book. It seems so familiar and organic. You can download or stream the original images of this book that has been dated back to around 1420. http://archive.org/stream/TheVoynichM...
The Voynich Manuscript has never been deciphered. I think this is what I like most about it. Voynich is a living mystery, an open invitation perhaps to another world! And on this note...readers may want to also check out THE GARDEN: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/97...
I love a good mystery! The Voynich Manuscript is one of the greatest mysteries of all time. I can't say I have read this book...no one has, in the true sense of the meaning! It is written in an unknown language, lavishly illustrated, with strange plants, animals and astrological signs. It imbues a timeless essence of 'something.'
I love this book. It seems so familiar and organic. You can download or stream the original images of this book that has been dated back to around 1420. http://archive.org/stream/TheVoynichM...
The Voynich Manuscript has never been deciphered. I think this is what I like most about it. Voynich is a living mystery, an open invitation perhaps to another world! And on this note...readers may want to also check out THE GARDEN: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/97...
May 16, 2012
The chronology bounces around a bit, as another reviewer said, but this is an excellent introduction to the mysterious Voynich manuscript. In addition, it's a good example of how many inaccurate ways a coded message could be decoded by self-deluded amateur code-breakers.
For the Voynich Manuscript truly is a code. It features odd-looking plants only vaguely resembling those in a medieval herbary text (ie, a manual of herbs with medicinal properties), surrounded by a hand-written text in an unknown alphabet.
I don't believe I'm spoiling the ending when I say that to me the book is either a hoax or a highly personal visionary experience by a sufferer from some sort of neuropathology.
I recommend this book for anyone who's fascinated by ancient languages and alphabets, and loves a good historical mystery with occult overtones.
For the Voynich Manuscript truly is a code. It features odd-looking plants only vaguely resembling those in a medieval herbary text (ie, a manual of herbs with medicinal properties), surrounded by a hand-written text in an unknown alphabet.
I don't believe I'm spoiling the ending when I say that to me the book is either a hoax or a highly personal visionary experience by a sufferer from some sort of neuropathology.
I recommend this book for anyone who's fascinated by ancient languages and alphabets, and loves a good historical mystery with occult overtones.
October 17, 2011
I am wavering between two and three stars for this book because it was rather enjoyable to read.
The Voynich Manuscript is a rather strange manuscript that has resisted all attempts to be explained as to what it is about.
Kennedy and Churchill attempt to look at every possible angle of what this book is about, from a historical document to a hoax. They present the various players in the history of the manuscript and look at what influence they have made on the book. All the theories are collected so as readers we can just be absorbed by the lengths people have gone to in trying to make sense of this manuscript.
I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the theories and it was nicely presented. A good read.
The Voynich Manuscript is a rather strange manuscript that has resisted all attempts to be explained as to what it is about.
Kennedy and Churchill attempt to look at every possible angle of what this book is about, from a historical document to a hoax. They present the various players in the history of the manuscript and look at what influence they have made on the book. All the theories are collected so as readers we can just be absorbed by the lengths people have gone to in trying to make sense of this manuscript.
I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the theories and it was nicely presented. A good read.
April 8, 2009
A lot of books on these kinds of subjects tend to be really poorly written, full of insane conjecture, or both.
This book is full of OTHER PEOPLE'S insane conjecture, which it then carefully and entertainingly explains, and deconstructs. It also provides a brief whirlwind tour of all the fascinating people who have been, or may have been, connected to the manuscript in some way.
All in all, a very impressive and solid work of scholarship on one of the most bizarre mysteries in the world. It's a fast read, too, so you really have no reason not to check it out.
This book is full of OTHER PEOPLE'S insane conjecture, which it then carefully and entertainingly explains, and deconstructs. It also provides a brief whirlwind tour of all the fascinating people who have been, or may have been, connected to the manuscript in some way.
All in all, a very impressive and solid work of scholarship on one of the most bizarre mysteries in the world. It's a fast read, too, so you really have no reason not to check it out.
July 13, 2009
I heard of the Voynich Manuscript for the first time just a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure how I'd missed it before that - it's absolutely fascinating. Check it out on Wikipedia, and if you're intrigued, pick up this book to find out all that's known and unknown about the mysterious manuscript.
March 7, 2010
This is either a superb hoax, played out centuries ago or more recent times, or an erudite Eastern's study book from the 16th/17th century. Whether it is a code, or a private language, this was a thoughtful read.
April 16, 2010
After reading, be sure to check out the latest info on Google. Carbon dating has been done by the University of Arizona.
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