2 1/2 stars: I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed or no real interest

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From the back cover: "The Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious tome discovered in 1912 by the English dealer Wilfrid Michael Voynich, has puzzled scholars for almost a century. Only six inches by nine inches, but over 200 pages long with odd illustrations of plants, astrological diagrams, and naked women, it is written in so indecipherable a language and contains so complicated a code that mathemeticians, book collectors, linguists, and historians alike have yet to solve the mysteries contained within. However, in "The Friar and the Cipher", the acclaimed bibliophiles and historians Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone describe in fascinating detail the theory that Roger Bacon, the noted thirteenth century Copernican astronomer, was its author and that the perlexing alphabet was written in his hand. Along the way, they explain the many proposed solutions that scholars have put forth and the myriad attempts at labeling the manuscript's content, as well as its journey across centuries, languages, and countries."

I find the mystery of the Voynich Manuscript to be fascinating. I only recently heard of it (roughly 3-4 years ago) but have enjoyed articles I have read and positing solutions. This book had many photographs, and its a very beautiful work. I read some wiki articles about other possible solutions. (And since this book was published, carbon dating its age has ruled out Roger Bacon, as the vellum dates from 1404 to 1438, well after Bacon's death.

I wish I enjoyed this book more than I did. While I found some parts of it somewhat engaging, overall it was tedious. It was not very much about the manuscript itself, and much more about religion and science and how the latter has at times been circumvented/ suppressed by the former. While that is a topic that can interest me, that was not what this book should have been about, nor was the history that interesting to me. It had hundreds of pages of background of religious and scientific scholars, from Thomas Aquinas to St. Augustine to Aristotle. I found myself flipping ahead, and ultimately I did skip at least a hundred pages.

A few quotes which I found interesting:

"Aristotle's method of viewing the physical and metaphysical has survived intellectual challenge, mysticism, religious conflict, ludicrous parsing, and misapplication. His influence is still felt today by every student, businessperson, and politician ---anyone who has ever written a book report or done an outline in bullet points or enjoyed Sherlock Holmes is walking in Aristotle's shadow. His contribution has become so basic, so fundamental to every aspect of scientific endeavor, that many of those reading him today might say "So what? Everybody knows that."

This section amused me, because it is so true today, but this passage is about life at a university in the 13th century: "Paris very quickly developed into a classic college town. Twenty first century parents will be interested to learn that university life has not changed very much in nearly a millenium. The overwhelming preponderance of letters home, for example, were please for money. Since many of the 14 year olds who arrived at the school had not yet had a chance to learn to write, there were the equivalent of form letters for the purpose of conniving money out of parents of patrons, with blank spaces for the student's name and his target. "A much copied exercise contained twenty two different methods of approaching an archdeacon on this ever delicate subject." ( )

Interesting book. I hadn't really read much about Roger Bacon or his contemporaries. There is a large section of this book that explains the back story on Roger Bacon and then it explains the story of a manuscript that appears to have been written by Bacon. But the mysterious book is entirely in cipher. Some of the best code breakers in the last 100 years have not been able to crack the cipher. The people that broke the WWII Japanese, German, and other Axis codes took a crack at it. Without success. It remains an unsolved mystery but I enjoyed reading about it and the people of the time that created the mystery. ( )

I loved the biographies,but wished there had been more about the analysis and results. I suppose if there had been more, the book would not be so much of a mystery. The lives of the monks and academics was very informative, however. ( )

The Goldstones create an entertaining and accessible history of the Voynich manuscript, religious philosophy, European medieval history. While the translation effort occupies only the last 50 pages of the book, the rest is worth reading.

http://lifelongdewey.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/091-the-friar-and-the-cipher-by-la... ( )

This is a somewhat flawed book in the sense that it only tangentially is about the Voynich manuscript and mostly about Roger Bacon. This is not a bad thing, but if the reader was expecting a meaty exposition of said manuscript, he won't find it here. Fifteen of the nineteen chapters are background, and the final four actually deal with the Voynich manuscript. But the book is immensely readable, providing a veritable romp through 13th century history. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

For someone not steeped in the Medieval world, this is a relatively painless introduction, being short on citations and repleat with stories. For example, Goldstone writes, "In 1876, an English philosophy professor wrote," he then dutifully quotes the professor but doesn't identify him even in a footnote. This is a typical Goldstone omission.

Each chapter contributes to our knowledge of Roger Bacon, thus in a subtle way increasing anticipation for the denoument, which he only partially delivers, and thus reminding us that Bacon (Doctor Mirabilis) is the true subject of the book. However, the book reminds me of a tremendous shaggy dog story, in which we are just waiting for the punchline. Sadly that punchline for me, at least, is anticlimactic. The 13th century is endlessly fascinating. The Goldstones' approach provides a nice introduction to personalities who shaped events that seem to have affected Bacon's academic and literary activities from Rome to Paris to Oxford.

A further gimmick to keep one reading is the insertion without captions or comments of 12 color plates depicting pages from the mysterious manuscript, a subtle way of keeping one plowing ahead.

For the Medieval scholar, there will be some disappointment unless you are looking for an attractive way to review and get a different take on well-traveled material. There is not much that is new here, but the Goldstones have managed an interesting synthesis of historical information that I dare say the average reader doesn't know.

Finally, This is my first Kindle book. I don't actually own a Kindle and am reluctant to buy one merely because I don't need yet another device. But I downloaded Amazon's free PC app onto my laptop. Since there doesn't seem to be an index to this book, I found the highlighting, notes and search capabilities to be very useful -- and user friendly. And this definitely will not be my last e-book. ( )