What the article fails to recognize is the sheer difficulty and expense involved in acquiring information in those days. You not only needed lots of money; you also needed status and political friends who could connect you through their networks to people who know things about your subject of interest. Even getting a peek into a book was an arduous affair, sometimes taking years. There's a reason why the gentry were so fond of collecting books.
So yes, anyone politically, socially, and economically powerful enough, with an ounce of curiosity, would have a list such as this. I do the same for anything I can't get within a month.
And remember that paper was extremely expensive for ordinary people back then. Using it for something silly as a todo list seems as wastefull as using a JavaScript framework for just a todo app. ;)
And a reason why I was so keen on collecting books in 1969, too. If you didn't buy it while it was in print, or the moment you spotted it in a used bookstore, you might never see it again in your lifetime. Now I'm going through and dumping a whole lot of those books, (or should be.)
Before I reached the last sentence, I looked hard at the image and opened it in a new tab, thinking I could read his writing (since I learned high-intermediate Italian). Nope, it's mirrored [1], which may have had to do with his dyslexia.
Looking into it briefly, I came across a guy [2] who taught himself to write like Da Vinci (note: full-screen sign-up prompt upon clicking). Skip to to the 6th paragraph starting with "Perhaps...". Being a lefty, I think I'll give mirrored writing a go as well.
"Research suggests that the ability to do mirror writing is probably inherited and caused by atypical language organization in the brain. It is not known how many people in the population inherit the ability of mirror writing (an informal Australian newspaper experiment identified 10 true mirror-writers in a readership of 65,000). Half of the children of people with the ability inherit it. A higher proportion of left-handed people are better mirror writers than right-handed people, probably because it's more natural for a left-hander to write backwards."
I did my Engineering Physics I homework using mirrored writing. The instructor didn't mind. Looking back, it's a bit risky given you're drawing equations and arrows, not only text. I hadn't tried this before or since.
At the end of the semester, I told him physics seemed fun but I thought software engineering was a better career choice for me. Only years later did I find via LinkedIn that he had worked as a software engineer for ten years before. :D
"probably because it's more natural for a left-hander to write backwards".
No, the key is that pulling the writing instrument requires a lot less muscle than pushing it. This means that mirror writing requires 1) more muscle strain or 2) less muscle strain than writing with the dominant hand if either the hand is switched, or the direction (LTR or RTL). If you swap both factors at the same time, then the strain is the same.
Left-handers who write LTR and switch direction (RTL) reduce the muscle strain compared to their usual writing as they're now pulling the pen. A right hander who does the same in this situation has to push the pen RTL with their right hand, which is harder than they're used to. A right hander should use the left-hand for mirror writing so they pull the pen like they're used to.
From this information, you can derive why people think it's easier to mirror write by switching hands, and others think it's easier for left-handers than right-handers to mirror write with their original hand.
TL;DR: Yes, there is initial effort to start mirror writing. But the real difference is that in the long-term, one group will find mirror writing to cause more hand strain than normal, and others will find it less hand strain than normal, because in one group pushing the pen is normal and in the other pulling it is.
mirror writing is actually easier to start doing with whatever hand you write with less often; i'd argue due to having less muscle memory to have to subvert
mirror writing is only mirrored from a social standpoint
all writing is just random lines we ascribe context to
leonardo was a visual artist
abstracting symbols from strokes is a part of the discipline
and like finding your line while participating in a visual medium mirror writing is best developed through doing
My son is a lefty and while learning to write he would write several words mirrored and mix them with normal writing. When asked he really couldn't see the difference. It all looked fine to him.
Huh, I've know about Da Vinci's mirror writing since I was a kid, and I've tried it and never thought about it as something that might be hard for anyone. I just tried two sentences and the first one was hard - I kept wanting to do the shapes "the right way", but the second one was pretty speedy.
I wouldn't say it was very readable, but then again my normal writing isn't either. I'm left handed, though.
I don't know whether it has anything to do with being left-handed, but I used to mirror-write notes whenever I was bored in class and didn't find it difficult with the exception of letters that required me to lift the pen off the paper and that went away with some practice.
> You can just feel Da Vinci’s voracious curiosity and intellectual restlessness. Note how many of the entries are about getting an expert to teach him something
Nowadays that seems less common, with the incredibly amount of information available and readily accessible. However, I think learning from someone, even from just a short conversation, is highly valuable.
Yeah I never understood why people aren't more curious. I'm always looking for articles about how things are made, the history of given locations, and whatever just seems interesting. I never see anyone else with a marginally equivalent level of curiosity especially for my age (mid-30s). Seems like people get swallowed whole by their social lives and careers.
And experts are remarkably out of practice answering (or listening to questions carefully) because Google exists, which reinforces everyone's reluctance to ask humans anything. It can be like pulling teeth to get a sensible answer to the question you actually asked; but then my barista only gives me the decaffeinated coffee I asked for if the first word I utter is "decaffeinated," too. We're all not used to answering questions properly, by now, 'cause questions are what search engines are for, nowadays. But I agree with brachi - if you ask a human, you're more likely to find the related question you should have asked instead, or as well, for example.
>[Talk to] Giannino, the Bombardier, re. the means by which the tower of Ferrara is walled without loopholes (no one really knows what Da Vinci meant by this)
I thought "loopholes" generally referred to a narrow upright window with wide angles in the interior but little room at the outside. It's designed so that you can shoot arrows out of it with a wide degree of freedom, but hard to get an arrow into.
OK, let's agree that that defines 'loopholes' in this context but still what is meant by the overall comment? Why ask about building a tower without loopholes?
It reminds of Gov Schwarzenegger recently saying he doesn't exist in a vacuum, and that mentors are key.
A large part of these are not "do X"; they are in "get Y person to show me how they do X".
We can be thankful of the Messer Fazio, Brera Friar, Giannino, Benedetto Potinari, Maestro Antonio, Mastro Giannetto, Maestro Giovanni and Vitolone who gave us Leonardo.
JFYI, there is a typo in the linked to text, Benedetto Portinari, it's the same Florentine family of Beatrice Portinari, he was the nephew of the more famous Tommaso Portinari:
I think he meant finding the square whose area is equal to that of a given triangle.
With our "modern" understanding of algebra and geometry, we know to do
Area = 1/2 * base * height
Area = s^2
therefore
s = sqrt(1/2 * base * height)
"Squaring the circle" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaring_the_circle) was an ancient challenge, proven to be impossible with a straightedge and compass in the 1800s. He may have been trying to square the triangle with just those tools.
Wow, I'm actually writing a book that reads just like this list. It's meant for INTJs, it's got 300 suggested activities--similar to those on Da Vinci's list in terms of theme if not object. I'm about to hit publish and seeing this article makes me feel pretty excited. I wonder if Newton also kept to-do lists...
I was trying to actually read the text and then I figured out Leonardo da Vinci wrote in mirror writing (writing in the direction that is the reverse of the natural way for a given language).
Apparently nobody is quite sure why he did this. weird.
When you write with a dip pen (e.g. calligraphy), writing from left to write will smudge the ink if you are left-handed.
Writing the opposite direction preserves the same convenience of movement as right-handed writers have when doing calligraphy, and avoids smudging the ink. It seems an elegant solution for someone who is left-handed.
[+] [-] kstenerud|9 years ago|reply
So yes, anyone politically, socially, and economically powerful enough, with an ounce of curiosity, would have a list such as this. I do the same for anything I can't get within a month.
[+] [-] vnglst|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nomentatus|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] personlurking|9 years ago|reply
Looking into it briefly, I came across a guy [2] who taught himself to write like Da Vinci (note: full-screen sign-up prompt upon clicking). Skip to to the 6th paragraph starting with "Perhaps...". Being a lefty, I think I'll give mirrored writing a go as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_writing
http://michaelbalchan.com/davinciwriting/?hvid=3xsKQB
Edit: from the Wikipedia link above:
"Research suggests that the ability to do mirror writing is probably inherited and caused by atypical language organization in the brain. It is not known how many people in the population inherit the ability of mirror writing (an informal Australian newspaper experiment identified 10 true mirror-writers in a readership of 65,000). Half of the children of people with the ability inherit it. A higher proportion of left-handed people are better mirror writers than right-handed people, probably because it's more natural for a left-hander to write backwards."
[+] [-] vlad|9 years ago|reply
At the end of the semester, I told him physics seemed fun but I thought software engineering was a better career choice for me. Only years later did I find via LinkedIn that he had worked as a software engineer for ten years before. :D
"probably because it's more natural for a left-hander to write backwards".
No, the key is that pulling the writing instrument requires a lot less muscle than pushing it. This means that mirror writing requires 1) more muscle strain or 2) less muscle strain than writing with the dominant hand if either the hand is switched, or the direction (LTR or RTL). If you swap both factors at the same time, then the strain is the same.
Left-handers who write LTR and switch direction (RTL) reduce the muscle strain compared to their usual writing as they're now pulling the pen. A right hander who does the same in this situation has to push the pen RTL with their right hand, which is harder than they're used to. A right hander should use the left-hand for mirror writing so they pull the pen like they're used to.
From this information, you can derive why people think it's easier to mirror write by switching hands, and others think it's easier for left-handers than right-handers to mirror write with their original hand.
TL;DR: Yes, there is initial effort to start mirror writing. But the real difference is that in the long-term, one group will find mirror writing to cause more hand strain than normal, and others will find it less hand strain than normal, because in one group pushing the pen is normal and in the other pulling it is.
[+] [-] justifier|9 years ago|reply
mirror writing is only mirrored from a social standpoint
all writing is just random lines we ascribe context to
leonardo was a visual artist
abstracting symbols from strokes is a part of the discipline
and like finding your line while participating in a visual medium mirror writing is best developed through doing
[+] [-] hyperpallium|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spiderfarmer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vidarh|9 years ago|reply
I wouldn't say it was very readable, but then again my normal writing isn't either. I'm left handed, though.
[+] [-] Shengbo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aduffy|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] therealjohn|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brachi|9 years ago|reply
Nowadays that seems less common, with the incredibly amount of information available and readily accessible. However, I think learning from someone, even from just a short conversation, is highly valuable.
[+] [-] norea-armozel|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nomentatus|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cushychicken|9 years ago|reply
I thought "loopholes" generally referred to a narrow upright window with wide angles in the interior but little room at the outside. It's designed so that you can shoot arrows out of it with a wide degree of freedom, but hard to get an arrow into.
[+] [-] dreistdreist|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kencausey|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] solotronics|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DenisM|9 years ago|reply
http://tung-sten.no-ip.com/Texts/Misc/Leonardo/Book.htm
http://tung-sten.no-ip.com/Texts/Misc/Leonardo/Helper/Forewo...
[+] [-] orange888|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] INTPenis|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BenoitP|9 years ago|reply
A large part of these are not "do X"; they are in "get Y person to show me how they do X".
We can be thankful of the Messer Fazio, Brera Friar, Giannino, Benedetto Potinari, Maestro Antonio, Mastro Giannetto, Maestro Giovanni and Vitolone who gave us Leonardo.
[+] [-] jaclaz|9 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommaso_Portinari
The "graphical rendition" on the original site has it correct:
http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/11/18/142467882/le...
BTW - still to be picky - the linked article is 2014, whilst the original article by NPR's Robert Krulwich is 2011.
The whole Leonardo's Notebooks are available here (in a different edition/translation by Jean Paul Richter):
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Notebooks_of_Leonardo_Da_...
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Notebooks_of_Leonardo_Da_...
[+] [-] gravypod|9 years ago|reply
What did he mean by this?
[+] [-] kalid|9 years ago|reply
With our "modern" understanding of algebra and geometry, we know to do
Area = 1/2 * base * height
Area = s^2
therefore
s = sqrt(1/2 * base * height)
"Squaring the circle" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaring_the_circle) was an ancient challenge, proven to be impossible with a straightedge and compass in the 1800s. He may have been trying to square the triangle with just those tools.
[+] [-] themodelplumber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] INTPenis|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rivaldo|9 years ago|reply
Apparently nobody is quite sure why he did this. weird.
[+] [-] gknoy|9 years ago|reply
Writing the opposite direction preserves the same convenience of movement as right-handed writers have when doing calligraphy, and avoids smudging the ink. It seems an elegant solution for someone who is left-handed.
[+] [-] jeremywho|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trhway|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomjen3|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skocznymroczny|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] hclivess|9 years ago|reply
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