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+--- Thread: [Book] "The Voynich Manuscript" (Watkins reproduction) (/thread-1954.html)
RE: The Voynich Manuscript - -JKP- - 05-07-2017
(05-07-2017, 10:08 AM)VViews Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.On the Guardian website:
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I'm reserving a seat. I suspect sparks will fly over that one.
RE: The Voynich Manuscript - Koen G - 05-07-2017
Ah come on, I wrote my review already but the contact from Watkins asked me to publish as close to release as possible. And now the Guardian is publishing a not-so critical review and it's only early July. I call Fake News
RE: The Voynich Manuscript - MarcoP - 05-07-2017
(05-07-2017, 10:08 AM)VViews Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.On the Guardian website:
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Thank you, VViews! From this article, the book seems more interesting than I initially though. I still have several perplexities (but I don't know how reliable the article is in giving an idea of the book).
Personally, I think that an analysis that completely ignores the linguistic side is unverifiable and cannot really move research forward. I greatly enjoy speculating about the nice pictures, but I don't believe that this can lead to conclusions as specific as those published by Skinner. The "problem that has frustrated academics, cryptographers and computer programming experts" since 1912 (and before) is how to read the book, not just having a more or less precise identification of who wrote it.
Some of the statements in the article seem to me correct and relevant, e.g.: "in those days, doctors had to be astrologers as well, so they could determine the nature of an illness and treatment."
But the proposed interpretation is one of many possibilities, so I disagree with statements like: “I think there is no other explanation for what they are: it is either rank fantasy by the author – which doesn’t really fit with the medical, herbal and cosmological sections of the manuscript – or it is a mikvah.” My opinion is that, at the current stage of our knowledge, an open mind is the best possible approach. The "mikvah" may be a good hypothesis, but mixing religious ritual baths with other medical, secular, sections doesn't seem to me to be obviously better than other alternatives (e.g. "regular" medical baths as discussed by Touwaide). The concept of "rank fantasy" seems to me both generic and dismissive, a convenient straw-man: I see no point in comparing a specific hypothesis with something like that. I hope this is just a simplification introduced for the aritcle and that the the book compares Skinner's ideas about the "bathing nymphs" with actual different hypotheses, such as that put forward by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
RE: The Voynich Manuscript - Koen G - 05-07-2017
Marco: I have a physical copy of the book and you can read the foreword in its entirety on the amazon preview - I double checked to see whether it's complete. That's really all there is to it. Go here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , and then you can click the cover, browse through to page 12 and 13 to read the complete mikvah argument.
The introduction by Rene and Prinke is of course more neutral and comprehensive, but completely separate from Skinner's contribution.
RE: The Voynich Manuscript - MarcoP - 05-07-2017
(05-07-2017, 11:23 AM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Marco: I have a physical copy of the book and you can read the foreword in its entirety on the amazon preview - I double checked to see whether it's complete. That's really all there is to it. Go here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , and then you can click the cover, browse through to page 12 and 13 to read the complete mikvah argument.
Thank you, Koen! It looks rather thin to support statements of the kind "it must be this way". I do believe it may be that way, though: ritual baths (not necessarily Hebrew) are an idea we discussed You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
I find particularly interesting the importance of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for the Rom:
The lower parts of the woman’s body, and in particular the genitals, are considered as mahrime [unclean] and in a transferred sense they are the original source of all ritual uncleanliness.
But also generalizing from "Jewish ritual purification" to "ritual purification", this is just one of several possibilities.
RE: "The Voynich Manuscript" (Watkins reproduction) - Paris - 24-09-2017
This book (Voynich - the World's Most Mysterious and Esoteric Codex) has been published last month.
Did anyone buy it ? What do you think about it ?
RE: "The Voynich Manuscript" (Watkins reproduction) - Koen G - 25-09-2017
Generally I'd say you're much better off with the Yale version. People who are familiar with the MS already will mostly buy it for the reproduction. This is superior in the Yale version since you get actual foldouts and true size prints.