Codex Seraphinianus

[Ex-User (5841)]

One of many images (NSFW?):

Spoiler

In the late 70s, Italian architect, illustrator, and industrial designer Luigi Serafini made a book; an encyclopedia of an unknown, parallel world. It’s about 360-380 pages, and is written in an unknown language, using an unknown alphabet. It took him 30 months to complete that masterpiece that many might call “the strangest book on earth.” Codex Seraphinianus is divided to 11 chapters and two parts: The first is about nature and the second is about people.

(btw ~five hundred years ago there was another book somewhat like that: Voynich Manuscript.)

This

is

ridiculously

awesome​

Full text: http://www.cetteadressecomportecinquantesignes.com/Luigi.Serafini.-.Codex.Seraphinianus.pdf

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

In the future please insert 'not safe for work'.

 

[Pyropyro]

I think it's our generation's answer to the Voynich manuscript which I believe is a ye olde version of trolling.

 

[Thurlor]

Wow, that's fantastic. I could easily get lost in it for a few hours. Longer if there was a translation to be found.

 

[Pizzabeak]

This one musician I was into posted about this a few years ago.. Here's one of his songs if anyone is into that sort of thing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltCC-rCeHMQ

pdf seems to be the most convenient way of checking it out, because I remember looking it up on amazon and it was like 300 bucks

don't think it's trolling, just pure creative work not to sound cheesy.. if a small child managed to get his or her hands on a copy i'd imagine it would fuel the imagination immensely. that's the vibe it honestly gives off, it would be good for curious children 3rd grade and under to run through. obviously people of all ages can enjoy it, and skimming through some of it re-enforces that fact that it isn't a children's book. I can just imagine being in the mind frame of a child and flipping through this as a deviation from the usual picture books one would be involved in at that stage.
Stephen King Dark Tower III: Wastelands has remotely interesting artwork in it

Essentially though, it seems the author is rather disciplined in his craft and was able to create the work and bring it to fruition which is somewhat impressive in and of itself. Were any substances involved? Doesn't seem to matter too much. Maybe he was slightly disappointed in all that the Earth had to offer and wanted to express his opinion a little bit. Oh, trolling? Supposedly the language is a bunch of symbols ran through a random number generator but if I could I would also say it shouldn't matter that much.

 

[Pyropyro]

don't think it's trolling, just pure creative work not to sound cheesy.. if a small child managed to get his or her hands on a copy i'd imagine it would fuel the imagination immensely. that's the vibe it honestly gives off, it would be good for curious children 3rd grade and under to run through. obviously people of all ages can enjoy it, and skimming through some of it re-enforces that fact that it isn't a children's book. I can just imagine being in the mind frame of a child and flipping through this as a deviation from the usual picture books one would be involved in at that stage.
Stephen King Dark Tower III: Wastelands has remotely interesting artwork in it

Essentially though, it seems the author is rather disciplined in his craft and was able to create the work and bring it to fruition which is somewhat impressive in and of itself. Were any substances involved? Doesn't seem to matter too much. Maybe he was slightly disappointed in all that the Earth had to offer and wanted to express his opinion a little bit. Oh, trolling? Supposedly the language is a bunch of symbols ran through a random number generator but if I could I would also say it shouldn't matter that much.

The codex would be wonderful to boost any person's imagination not just a child's. Yeah, I was thinking more of the "language" that it used when I posted about trolling future academics.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

What gets me about the writing, which I don't believe to be the result of random number generation, is that it's hand-written.

My gut says that the writing is actually a mixture of letters and words/concepts, possibly manipulated/ordered/transformed after that point. I think it's a very well-crafted encryption.

 

[Pizzabeak]

It's good to hear proponents of it being non-random number generated. I haven't really looked too into it myself to make those types of proposals.

Concerning the children though, it may be more or less equivalent to being exposed to Greek myths in elementary school as is typical, specifically the story with the minotaur that devours the children. If one were to be exposed to that tale for the first time as an adult, there will still be some impact (especially if that person has kids) but it might be a different sort of impact from the type an elementary schooler might perceive.
Not that there are any advantages or anything... I wouldn't go so far as to suggest kids that have boosts of creativity early on are more likely to end up being better than everyone else or anything.
But the book, a rather commendable work or accomplishment no matter which way you look at it.