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The Curse of the Voynich: The Secret History of the World's Most Mysterious Manuscript [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Nicholas John Pelling (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: Oct 2006
With its cipher-like handwriting and curious drawings of naked
women, the enigmatic Voynich Manuscript has for centuries fascinated and
frustrated all who have encountered it.

But now, by retracing one man's perilous journey East from Renaissance
Europe to the Ottoman Empire, "The Curse of the Voynich" opens up a door
into the lost world behind this mystery...

Five years in the making, this fascinating new book takes the reader on a
journey into the hidden worlds of ciphers, politics, power, and poison: and
by breaking the cunning Naked Lady Code, it reveals secrets hidden for half
a millennium!

Fascinating, richly-detailed and well-illustrated, it even covers the codes
and ciphers used by Leonardo da Vinci - in just about every sense, then,
this truly is a real-life Da Vinci Code!

Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Compelling Press; illustrated edition edition (Oct 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0955316006
  • ISBN-13: 978-0955316005
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 615,411 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Nick Pelling Page
Nick Pelling
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Product Description

From the Publisher

While non-fiction is rarely both entertaining and powerfully
informative, "The Curse of the Voynich" rewrites the publishing rule-book
by ticking both of these challenging boxes.

On the one hand, it draws out many different strands of history and weaves
them into a narrative tapestry, to tell the story of one exceptional man's
journey against the tide of history - and how a Renaissance Cold War
brought "the world's most mysterious manuscript" into being.

On the other hand, readers with an interest in secret history will enjoy
being taken behind the scenes in early Renaissance Italy, to see power &
intrigue in action - and to glimpse the furtive world of early inventors,
at the time when many of the technologies we now take for granted were
first conceived and built.

From the Back Cover

With its cipher-like handwriting and curious drawings of naked
women, the bizarre Voynich Manuscript has for centuries fascinated and
frustrated all who have encountered it.

But now, by retracing one man's perilous journey East from Renaissance
Europe to the Ottoman Empire, "The Curse of the Voynich" opens up a door
into the lost world that brought this mystery to life...

See all Product Description

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
4.2 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Historical Detective Work 2 Feb 2007
By Mr. A. E. Castellari
Format:Paperback
I've never read a book like this before and probably won't do so again. The Voynich manuscript is a bizarre encrypted book that has (so far) defied attempts to decrypt it or determine its origin. Nick Pelling gives an entertaining and credible explanation of the book, its author and its raison d'etre. And it's a damn good read. Don't let the mention of cryptology put you off - this is a fascinating melange of history, biography, cyphers and politics and it's fun. The amount of work that has gone into this book is obviously enormous, yet the results are presented with a clarity that reflects the obvious love of the author for the book itself. Read it!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars a compelling explanation 18 Dec 2007
By Mr. D. J. Rawlinson
Format:Paperback
Nick Pelling doesn't take the usual approach of clever monolithic crypto techniques and vaguely plausible partial translations. He doesn't have a simple, soundbite explanation for the manuscript. Instead he has thoroughly researched the history of the document and its cultural context. By dint of forensic examination of the manuscript (supported by the very large number of illustrations in this book) many interesting facts come to light. As you progress through the book the strands come together - no individual piece of evidence (bar perhaps the blue dots!) really clinches it for me, but all together the result is .. compelling.

At the end some of the crypto techniques are explained, and a very reasonable explanation is presented for the lack of a comprehensive translation of the document. But I'm left feeling that the answer is now only just beyond reach.. if only the next step were taken! The book leaves me intrigued and with the expectation that one day soon the mystery will be solved. In fact the mystery is quite possibly solved within Pellng's book, but we still need the translation for real certainty!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A step in the right direction 18 Oct 2008
By J. Haley
Format:Paperback
Mr Pelling tells a very interesting story. The comparisons with known architectural structures are startling. If nothing else the effort he has put into his research has given us a good indication of links with Northern Italy in the 15th century. Whether his book will lead to a solution remains to be seen. If Mr Pelling writes a sequel to this work, and I hope he does, then it should be a must read for anyone interested in this mystery.
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