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+--- Thread: [Book] Unraveling the Voynich Codex (/thread-2388.html)
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - ReneZ - 22-08-2018
Oh well, I suppose I should buy it....
I wonder if they use the Eva Hand 1 font anywhere...
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - -JKP- - 22-08-2018
(29-05-2018, 09:37 AM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Authors: Janick, Jules, Tucker, Arthur O.
Quote:However, based on identification of New World plants, animals, a mineral, as well as cities and volcanos of Central Mexico, the authors of this book reveal that the codex is clearly a document of colonial New Spain...
It really stuns me that botanists (of all people) would say this.
Almost every plant in the New World has an analog in the Old World (a plant that looks the same or very nearly the same) and the VMS drawings are not detailed enough to make distinctions. Even with a microscope it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart. PLUS many Old World plants are circumboreal, they grow everywhere, so it's not possible from a drawing to distinguish their origins.
The same is true of animals, especially fish. The fish they identified from the crude VMS drawing resembles Old World fish just as much as New World fish.
And volcanoes? There's no evidence yet that the eye shape on the "map" page (or on any other page) is a volcano. It might be, BUT it could be many other things. Even if we knew for certain it was a volcano, it is just as likely to be Vesuvius (which is eye-shaped) as any Mexican volcano.
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - ulisse - 23-08-2018
My first impressions after reading some chapters of the book are very mixed:
1. The botanical analysis (the most authoritative part ) is very suggestive. I'm not so sure though that the poor quality of the botanical illustrations permit (even to professional botanists) such accuracy. It has to be said, that they only claim "Thus, of the 146 phytomorphs in the Voynich Codex with inflorescences or fruits, 55 (37.7%) were identified." Not bad but not overwhelming.
2. Disturbing are the references to the loony fringe of Voynich adepts, for example Landmann (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) and Sambhu (https://
shivashambho.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/el-corazc3b3n-del-corazc3b3n-de-amc3a9rica.
pdf.)
3. The interpretation of the Rosette folio as a cabbalistic Tree of Life (and subsequently as a map of catholic New Spain) is quite daring, The classical topology of the Sephiroth is not respected (only 9 instead of 10) .
As I have said, I have mixed feelings about this book. It clearly merits to be critically read but its sloppy scholarship and pretty extraordinary claims make me skeptic.
As Carl Sagan said: " Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence".
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - ReneZ - 23-08-2018
Already in the first publication by Tucker and Talbert it became clear that the interpretation of the illustrations is fundamentally flawed.
The question which details in the drawings are relevant, and which are not, is answered by matching with the hypothesis. It does not take into account whether, from a historical perspective, these drawings should be expected to be accurate.
The viola bicolor vs. tricolor is a typical example. Here, tiny and (in reality) uncertain details are taken as evidence. In other herb identifications, mis-matches are ignored whenever it fits.
It's again an example where the evidence is made to match the theory, rather than the other (and correct) way round.
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - DONJCH - 23-08-2018
Wasn't all this discussed before? I seem to remember the blue cube on I think You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was identified as a mineral found only in Mexico? Others have variously identified it as indigo dye or a block of blue cheese.
This is it, the whole thing is so amateurish and non specific it could be anything or nothing. My little grandchildren draw similar pictures when it is a TV or a fish tank.
Scientific? No.
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - MarcoP - 26-08-2018
On You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. linked by Koen in the first post, one can access the index of the book and read a few pages from each chapter (at least, the preview is accessible from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
The vast majority of this work is about Voynich-imagery only: in line with the subjective fluff one usually finds on Voynich blogs. From the abstract of the Zodiac chapter:
Quote:Most significant is the fact that some of the traditional signs are replaced with animals indigenous to Mexico. Thus, the fish in Pisces resembles an alligator gar, the crab in Cancer is represented by Mexican crayfish, the lion in Leo is replaced by an ocelot, and the scorpion in Scorpio is replaced by a jaguarundi (similar to cat-like images found in northern European zodiacs). The substitution of indigenous animals in the traditional zodiac signs provides evidence that the Voynich Codex is a Mesoamerican work.
I see that there are two short chapters (about 10% of the whole book) that could be language related. I would be curious to know if the most striking phenomena (e.g. LAAFU or reduplication) are at least mentioned. The author of these chapters, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., is an IT data analyst.
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Koen G - 26-08-2018
I got a reviewer's copy so I'll have to read all chapters and write some kind of review on my blog. I still don't know which tone I'll go for. It's unusual to have an academic publication which is so fundamentally, universally and undeniably flawed.
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - davidjackson - 26-08-2018
I think you've found your tone there.... ?
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - ReneZ - 26-08-2018
(26-08-2018, 12:20 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I think you've found your tone there.... ?
Well, one cannot write a review of an academic work in the same way as one would write (amateur) blog or forum posts....
RE: Unraveling the Voynich Codex - Anton - 26-08-2018
(26-08-2018, 12:12 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I got a reviewer's copy so I'll have to read all chapters and write some kind of review on my blog. I still don't know which tone I'll go for. It's unusual to have an academic publication which is so fundamentally, universally and undeniably flawed.
Honesty is the best policy!