the book no one can read

genkaku

Of possible interest ... sorta like "God" -- what would you know if you actually knew it?

It’s one of the world’s most mysterious books, a centuries-old manuscript written in an unknown or coded language that no one has cracked. [Click link for rest of story.]

Scholars have spent their lives puzzling over the Voynich manuscript, whose intriguing mix of elegant writing and drawings of strange plants and naked women has some believing it holds magical powers.

The weathered book is locked away in a vault at Yale university’s Beinecke library, emerging only occasionally.
New clue to Voynich manuscript mystery

But after a 10-year appeal for access, Siloe, a small publishing house in northern Spain has secured the right to clone the document – to the delight of its director.

person

Its really interesting, I'd recommend downloading and listening to this podcast about it from Stuff You Should Know.

http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-the-voynich-manuscript-works/

IchLiebte

Oh, man. I want to crack it. This is a linguist's dream.

Beej

I'm in. Though it's probably just a cook book, i'm betting there's a delicious cake at the end of decryption.

Shoshin

Perhaps it's nothing more than an ancient dyslexic chef's recipes and fantasies

IchLiebte

@TheBeejAbides said:
I'm in. Though it's probably just a cook book, i'm betting there's a delicious cake at the end of decryption.

Made of fish-shaped crackers, sediment-shaped sediment, 12 medium geosynthetic membranes...

Hopes you get the reference

DairyLama

If it has got elephants and ice-cream as well as strange plants and naked women, it could be one of the lost suttas of the Spiny Nikaya.