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Leonardo Da Vinci's Personal Notebook

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the pages-of-history dept.

IZ Reloaded writes "The British Library has made available 14 great books on its website. One of them is a 1508 notebook by Leonardo Da Vinci containing short treatises, notes and drawings of a wide range of subjects from mechanics to the moon. The site allows you to view the original manuscript written in Leonardo's own handwriting."

26 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Backward handwriting by mr100percent · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will I have to flip my display to read Leonardo Da Vinci's backwards handwriting?

    1. Re:Backward handwriting by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ready for this one - they actually have a "mirror" button to flip it over for you! Now that's nice.

    2. Re:Backward handwriting by legirons · · Score: 3, Funny

      Apparently, he only wrote "click here to download plugin" lots of times... very neat handwriting, although I can't see how it could be interpreted as the design for a helicopter

  2. Clues! by Eugene+Webby · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bet it has clues about jesus and coverups.

  3. i'm sure... by tehwebguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    it was probably a powerbook. those artsy types are all the same.

    --
    -- lol pwned
    1. Re:i'm sure... by nganju · · Score: 4, Funny


      Using Moore's Law and assuming today's fastest notebook is roughly 3GHz:

      3 000 000 000 * ((1/2)^((2005 - 1508) / 1.5)) = 5.44313816 × 10-91 Hz ...was the clock speed of Davinci's powerbook. And you think YOUR notebook loads Adobe slowly...

      --
      There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
  4. British surgeon cracks da Vinci code by $exyNerdie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In other news today, a British surgeon cracks the Da Vinci code:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4289204.stm

    Another version here:
    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_ page/0,5744,16753065%255E2703,00.html

  5. At last by squoozer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course they are only allowed to do this because the copyright period has just expired.

    --
    I used to have a better sig but it broke.
  6. Needs Shockwave by pipacs · · Score: 4, Informative

    Needs Shockwave. Thank you, goodbye.

    1. Re:Needs Shockwave by the_unknown_soldier · · Score: 5, Informative

      from their site:

      There are also alternative non-Shockwave versions of three of the volumes. More will be added soon.

    2. Re:Needs Shockwave by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Not being a luddite, I of course used the Shockwave version. If you had tried it also, you would've noted that there was a good reason for it: it includes a cool magnifier to view the pages, as well as some other neat features.

      Thank god we have people out there that aren't afraid to use technology to make things better, even if a small number of people whine about it. If people like you ran the world, we'd still be stuck using 80x25 column green screens.

      And, as other people have pointed out, there is an alternative link. Nice of them.

      --
      Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
  7. Not the only treasure by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's the original manuscript of Alice in Wonderland on there, too. Very cool!

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  8. Re:MY NOTEBOOK SAYS: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok, show of hands:

    Who thinks Slashdot need to give a breathalyzer test to users before they let you press the Submit button?

  9. available via project gutenberg by rillopy · · Score: 5, Informative

    The complete notebooks have been available from project gutenberg for a year and a half (without the pictures) at: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5000 It's also been on the top 100 list for a long time.

  10. What about Paul? by writermike · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why is "Paul is dead" written backwards on page three?

    Does anyone know? [[shrugs]]

    --
    If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
  11. Notation in margin... by TFGeditor · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that Mona Lisa is such a bitch!

    --
    Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
  12. In fascist italy... by cached · · Score: 5, Funny

    in Italia fascista, i taccuini li pubblicano

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    +1 funny, -2 overrated. Life isn't fair.
  13. Awesome! by Dirtside · · Score: 3, Funny

    I hope there's something in there about the making of Titanic. I loved that movie.

    --
    "Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
  14. Sure, but... by hummassa · · Score: 3, Funny

    seek & search times are a bitch on those.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  15. Da Vinci's Notebook by Mr2001 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Most people remember Leonardo Da Vinci for his paintings and inventions, but did you know Da Vinci's Notebook also has history's first recorded biography of The Sneak?

    --
    Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
  16. Important draft work by hotspotbloc · · Score: 4, Funny
    It's amazing that atleast one of his earlier drafts of his work at the Sistine Chapel survived.

    Let us give thanks to the FSM for this miracle.

    --
    "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
    1. Re:Important draft work by dedioste · · Score: 4, Funny

      "It's amazing that at least one of his earlier drafts of his work at the Sistine Chapel survived."

      It's even more amazing when you think that Michelangelo did the Decorations of the Sistine Chapel!

  17. Re:pdf by Declarent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wasn't aware you could put voice commentary, the magnifier, and the text reversing mirror in a PDF document.

    This is where we, as technophiles go wrong. The only thing that matters to us is the technology used to deliver the content, and we want the content to conform.

    Everyone else wants the content to look and feel a certain way, and just select a tool out of the toolbox to make it so.

    I think movies should be in PDF, too! One frame per page, that way everyone can see them without having to download a different tool!

    It's not about the glass, it's about the water.

  18. you know why? by spectrokid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It is often said he was using this to encrypt his writings, but this is BS. Da Vinci was left-handed and in order not to wipe out his own writing he just wrote right to left. When he had to write to others, he simply switched back to normal.

    --

    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

    1. Re:you know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      During art history class when the professor mentioned da Vinci's "code" a student at the university I attended commented "perhaps he was dyslexic". While the student made this comment he was writing class notes with his left hand from right to left at the same time he was writing an essay for another class with his right hand from left to right and yes, this was a frequent habit of that particular dyslexic student.

  19. Is it mirrored? by NaveNosnave · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ha ha! Get it? Da Vinci...handwriting...mirrored? Ah ha ha! I kill myself!