somehiker said:
There is likely to be a large amount of written material out there,yet to be translated and/or made public.
One such example,once owned by Athanasias Kircher,and recently studied and dated by ASU is the Voynich Manuscript.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript
Regards:SH.
Wayne,
Some years ago, when I first got intested in codes and such, I managed to find a signed first edition of "The Code Book" by Simon Singh. If you haven't read it, it's worth buying.
On pages 204-205 he does a nice piece on Athanasius Kircher and mentions him again on pages 211, 213. That piqued my interest and I purchased "Athanasius Kircher's Theatre of the World: The Life and Work of the Last Man to Search for Universal Knowledge" by Joscelyn Godwin.
I know, the title should have been enough to scare me off, but I do love a good challange. The fact that he was a Jesuit, just made the whole thing a little sweeter.
On the other hand, I don't have much faith in the manuscript.
Take care,
Joe