The Friar and the Cipher: Roger Bacon and the Unsolved Mystery of the Most Unusual Manuscript in the World

Don't you hate it when a book description isn't completely accurate? While I wouldn't necessarily say that's true in the case of Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone's The Friar and the Cipher, it does come very close. Ostensibly, the book is about the Voynich Manuscript, a document that has never been deciphered and which many believe was written by the noted thinker Roger Bacon, who lived in the thirteenth century. There has been a lot of controversy about this manuscript and its possible authorship, with many people believing that there's no way that Roger Bacon could have written it, or that it must be a hoax. It appears to be in some sort of code with strange illustrations in the margins. And yes, the book does discuss the great debate about this, detailing the many attempts to decode it and the many theories about who might have written it. Was it all a hoax committed by a friend of John Dee, Queen Elizabeth's trusted advisor, back in the late sixteenth century? Of course, the problem is that this debate begins on page 223 of the edition I have. The book runs just over 300 pages, which presents kind of a problem. The rest of the book is a history of Western thought and the constant struggle between science and religion in the Middle Ages, when the Catholic church was all-powerful. It gives a very detailed history of Roger Bacon, supposedly to give the background to the debate on the manuscript. It also details his philosophical adversaries, as well as demonstrating how Europe came out of the Dark Ages due to the rediscovery of some of Aristotle's works. In fact, the book goes all the way back to Aristotle himself, and his differences with Plato. All of this is fascinating stuff, and if you're in the mood for a discourse on logical thought and its struggles to get through religious dogma, then this book is definitely for you. I know I enjoyed it immensely. I just wish it had been better advertised as such. It covered a lot of ground that I was slightly familiar with, yet for which I had no real details. The Saracen empire was stretching into Spain at this point, and many of its scholars were well aware of Aristotle and his ideas of Logic. In fact, many of these scholars faced their own persecution from conservative Imams and other Moslem leaders, as the Goldstones show us in this book. As Europeans began to push back against this invasion, parts of Spain were recaptured, and these Moslem studies of Aristotle began to spread over Europe. The Gladstones do a really effective job in giving this history in a concise, yet detailed format. I never felt like they were glossing over anything and I found these sections extremely valuable. If you've studied Western philosophy or the history of the Dark Ages, than this may not be new to you, but I found it intriguing. The authors then give a short history of the Dominican and the Franciscan orders of the Church, and how opposed to each other they were. They give the story of Francis of

The Goldstone's last collaboration, Out of the Flames, is a great book. It concerns sixteenth century scholar Michael Servetus and his book Christianismi Restituto in which Servetus recounts his discovery of pulmonary circulation well before Harvey, the man usually credited with the discovery. In The Friar and the Cipher the Goldstone's attempt a similar look at history through the lens of important books with Roger Bacon and a book known as the Voynich manuscript. The Voynich manuscript is a mystery. Discovered in 1912, this book has remained unfathomable for nearly a century. Not only is it a strange concoction of drawings and diagrams but it is also written in a code that has remained unbroken since its discovery despite the efforts of some of the greatest code-breakers of the twentieth century. In fact, no one is even sure who the author of the manuscript is, though one of the likeliest of authors is thirteenth century proto-scientist Roger Bacon. This gives the authors an opportunity to test the claim by going through a history of thirteenth century scholarship. Roger Bacon, the friar of the title, is ostensibly the main subject but the Goldstone's are going for much more. We learn about the revival of Aristotle and Plato in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. We learn about the rise of the universities the new religious orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans. And we learn about many of the other great thinkers of the age like Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus as well as a host of lesser known names, if no less influential thinkers. It is a wonderful history and fun to read but somewhat less satisfying than Out of the Flames, mainly because there is an uncertainty here that wasn't in the previous book. With Christianismi Restituto, the provenance of the remaining three manuscripts and the fact that Servetus was the author is not in doubt. Out of the Flames traced a known history and revived the reputation of a man whose name is unjustly forgotten. Roger Bacon may be no less deserving of having his name polished for modern readers; however, bringing Bacon to life through this manuscript is less convincing. As the authors allow, there is no proof that Bacon is the author of this manuscript. In fact, it may have been written centuries after him. And since no one knows what this book is actually about, there is no proof that the author was some sort of genius. He may have simply been very clever at creating codes and ciphers, which comes across as rather pointless if no one can even decipher the code. Ultimately, this book is a good one with a lot of interesting history and some information about a literary mystery that still remains unsolved. That alone makes it worth reading. And if it's not the Goldstone's best, it is still excellent. And it leaves one wondering what the Goldstones are going to tackle next.

In 1912 one Wilfrid Voynich, a London rare book dealer, discovered a strange manuscript in a secluded Italian castle written in cipher which stymied code-breakers up to modern times. No, the Goldstones haven't broken the code: what they have done in The Friar And The Cipher: Roger Bacon And The Most Unusual Manuscript In The World is to provide a history of its possibilities and along with it, a scientific survey and examination of its lasting effects. The Goldstones use Roger Bacon, possible author of the manuscript, as a focal point for a history of the man, his times, and the evolution of code in response to an effort to keep evolving scientific pursuits secret from the church. A captivating survey emerges.

A terrific read. The authors are bibliophiles rather than cryptographers, but darn good biographers too. The subject of this book is a mysterious manuscript supposedly written in a cipher that has eluded all attempts at complete decoding. However, there is a strong belief that it is the product of the 13th century scholar Roger (not Francis) Bacon. He is what this book is really about. After briefly describing what's known of the book's provenance, now at Yale's library, the authors wonderfully weave what is known of Roger Bacon's life into the context of his time, which occupies the central focus of the book. This is followed by sketches of a variety of interesting characters who were influenced by Roger Bacon or the book. They include the Elizabethans, John Dee, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Francis Bacon, and Rudolf II of Bohemia. Capping these characters are the more modern professional and amateur cryptographers who have tried to decipher the book. Throughout, the style is refreshing, literate, and compelling. While the mystery is largely unsolved regarding the manuscript, the authors make it clear that Roger Bacon deserves more regard and examination as a founder of the modern scientific method.

This is advertised as the story of the Voynich Manuscript, a mysterious volume of untranslatable and esoteric notes and drawings which surfaced in 1912. Apparently the work of the famed English medieval scientist Roger Bacon, the Voynich Manuscript has defied every translator and codebreaker. The Goldstones have padded out the story of the manuscript itself (what can there be to say about a manuscript that no one can figure out?) with some fascinating material about Bacon and his contemporaries like Thomas Aquinas, all of whom were active during the 13th century buildup to what later came to be called the European Renaissance. As a result, this book is part mystery, part history, and both parts are fascinating.