The Voynich Manuscript - Raymond Clemens (Ed.) ***

It might seem a little strange to review a book on a possibly fake medieval manuscript here - yet with its botanical illustrations and some-time alleged connection to Roger Bacon, the Voynich manuscript does have a history of science flavour. If you haven't come across it, the Voynich manuscript is a heavily illustrated (with a mix of botanical and really weird images) book, written in an unknown script that has never been deciphered. Some believe that the book is a genuine work, others that the writing can't be deciphered as it never had any meaning, thinking it a fake, probably with the intention of producing a saleable oddity.

What is undeniable is that this new book on the manuscript is a handsome and weighty tome, over 30 cm tall and weighing in at 1.78 kilos. It's an expensive production featuring a semi-transparent dustcover with a vellum-like texture. Closing the book are around 60 pages of commentary - but what makes this volume remarkable is that the majority of it consists of accurate full colour reproductions of the Voynich manuscript's pages, down to having fold-outs for the pages in the original that are similarly structured.

It is, without doubt, the quality reproductions of pages of the manuscript itself that make this volume of interest - it is, effectively, a picture book. The supporting text is a little disappointing. We get articles on the earliest owners, Voynich (the buyer who made it famous), physical analysis of the book itself, early attempts to de-crypt the 'cipher' as is sometimes known, a little on the alchemical tradition (represented in some of the illustrations) and an overview. But apart from the physical analysis section, which is unusually detailed, the rest is summary. Most disappointingly, the 'deciphering' section has far too little on suggestions that the whole thing is a (probably medieval) fake, which some believe to be the case based on, for example, fascinating analysis by Gordon Rugg (who isn't mentioned). I would easily give the book four stars for the reproduction of the manuscript - it's the surrounding text that pulls it down.

If you are Voynich manuscript fan, you will want a copy of this book. It may even be the case if you're a lover of heavily illustrated medieval books. If you are not quite so committed, the cost may put you off, but it's worth borrowing from a library to see what all the fuss has been about.

Hardback:

Kindle:

Using these links earns us commission at no cost to you

Review by Brian Clegg

Comments

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire - Henry Gee ****

In his last book, Henry Gee impressed with his A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth - this time he zooms in on one very specific aspect of life on Earth - humans - and gives us not just a history, but a prediction of the future - our extinction. The book starts with an entertaining prologue, to an extent bemoaning our obsession with dinosaurs, a story that leads, inexorably towards extinction. This is a fate, Gee points out, that will occur for every species, including our own. We then cover three potential stages of the rise and fall of humanity (the book's title is purposely modelled on Gibbon) - Rise, Fall and Escape. Gee's speciality is palaeontology and in the first section he takes us back to explore as much as we can know from the extremely patchy fossil record of the origins of the human family, the genus Homo and the eventual dominance of Homo sapiens , pushing out any remaining members of other closely related species. As we move onto the Fall section, Gee gives ...

The Autobiography – Charles Darwin ****

I have to confess to putting off reading this book until the last moment, as I expected it to be a typical piece of Victorian sentimental unreadable stodge. I was wrong. Darwin’s little book (only 150 small pages with appendices) was originally written for his own children, and displays a very personal style of writing – though, as son Francis comments, his style was always more populist than was common then: “In writing he sometimes showed the same strong tendency to strong expressions that he did in conversation. Thus in the Origin, p440, there is a description of a larvel [sic] cirripede ‘with six pairs of beautifully constructed natatory legs, a pair of magnificent compound eyes and extremely complex antennae’. We used to laugh at him for this sentence, which we compared to an advertisement.” The main book is delightful because it demonstrates Darwin’s self-depreciating modesty, and the fascinating path he took from enthusiastic shooter of game, to amateur geologist (still his...

The Premonitions Bureau - Sam Knight ****

Not everyone would class this as popular science, but it concerns an attempt to take a scientific approach to paranormal abilities - notably premonitions (aka clairvoyance) and as such, it fits the category. Writing in the typical dramatic storytelling style of a US magazine, Sam Knight brings to life the remarkable tale of the work of two British figures from the 1960s. The central one is psychiatrist John Barker, with a supporting role given to newspaper and TV science reporter Peter Fairley. Barker had a long interest in extra sensory phenomena - the story takes off when he was inspired by a number of people claiming to have foreseen the Aberfan disaster (which terrible tragedy Knight covers movingly). As a result of the Aberfan premonitions, the pair were responsible for London's Evening Standard newspaper setting up a long-running experiment in the form of 'The Premonitions Bureau.' Aware that the Aberfan predictions were only reported after the event, and hence flawe...

Search This Blog