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angengea's review
1.0
I'm about 3/4 of the way through this book so far and even though I haven't finished it, I feel like I can weigh in a bit about it. The basic premise of this book is that Roger Bacon created the Voynich manuscript. The evidence for this is so thin and so unconvincing, though, that the author has spent the first 3/4 of the book summarizing all of Bacon's works, all of Thomas Aquinas' works, and John Dee's life and obsession with Roger Bacon rather than actually talk about Bacon's involvement with the Voynich manuscript.
The book is also riddled with factual errors -- at one point the author suggests that Henry VII was Henry VIII's older brother.
The idea that Bacon created the Voynich manuscript is an interesting one, but this book is (so far) completely underwhelming and not sufficiently scholarly.
Update, now that I'm finished: This book is a very sketchy summary of the lives of Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, John Dee, and the men and women in the 20th century who attempted to break the VMS code. It's very basic and doesn't offer any new perspectives on the creation of the VMS and is in all ways completely underwhelming and disappointing.
The book is also riddled with factual errors -- at one point the author suggests that Henry VII was Henry VIII's older brother.
The idea that Bacon created the Voynich manuscript is an interesting one, but this book is (so far) completely underwhelming and not sufficiently scholarly.
Update, now that I'm finished: This book is a very sketchy summary of the lives of Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, John Dee, and the men and women in the 20th century who attempted to break the VMS code. It's very basic and doesn't offer any new perspectives on the creation of the VMS and is in all ways completely underwhelming and disappointing.
juliechristinejohnson's review
A mosh-pit of Aristotelian, medieval and Elizabethan history that had very little to do with the discovered manuscript and its translation. It was very readable, written in an almost folksy style, and made me want to learn more about Roger Bacon. But, the contents were so all over the historical map, it was hard to find a point of focus. The individual parts were fascinating but the sum was tedious.
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