[Other] Uncovering Patterns in Indecipherable Books – The Voynich Manuscript

[tealeaf]

It's an interesting and well done talk. However, I am currently a bit over halfway through and I see a problem, which is that Currier languages are ignored. So he discovers a statistical shift around f33, which is where we also see a shift towards Herbal B. To me this feels kind of like discovering where a new 'language' starts, much more than a new topic or a new author. (Even though we do know Currier languages also correspond to different hands). The analysis should really have been done separated by Currier language, in my opinion.

I think that Mark made a similar point during the questions at the end, particularly with respect to changing hands. I'm definitely interested in following this line of thought (when time allows). I think it would be of interest if the statistically identified shift (or shifts, if I run a multiple changepoint analysis) were correlated with otherwise identified shifts in writing style.

As I mentioned in the talk, and in the earlier post, I'm definitely aware of the extent of the literature around this and the limits of my knowledge of that literature. So I'm always happy to be linked to things that put the statistical findings in context!

I'm glad you enjoyed the talk.