Leonardo and his Notebooks
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Leonardo had several purposes in writing the manuscripts that are known as his notebooks. It would be difficult to make a complete list of every subject that he addressed in them, but the briefest list shows his reasons for writing. The pages include plans for books to be written, notes on Latin (which he did not study until he was over 40), notes on anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany and optics, lists of his own notebooks, speculations on proportion, observations of natural phenomenon, numerous speculations about the movement of water, long passages from books he had read, lists of words he had learned, mathematics he was learning, designs for machines and weapons, calculations of various kinds, reminders of questions he wanted to ask, ideas about painting, jokes and riddles he had been told, and sketches related to almost all these subjects. Clearly the books served as a means of fixing things in his mind (as with all the lists of things he was learning), writing down things he did not want to forget (portions of books, as well as riddles), giving ideas written form, keeping track of his observations of the world, and, most of all, trying out ideas on numerous subjects. The notebooks do not seem like writing that was meant for general circulation. They are written in Leonardo's backward hand, are very disconnected, and many items would have been of no interest to anyone but Leonardo. Yet, there are indications that some parts were nearly ready for others to read, a
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nting or anatomy, in the manner employed by Melzi and, later, by Luigi Arconati, who compiled a book from Leonardo's notes which he titled Treatise on the Motion and Measure of Water (1634), or whether Leonardo hoped, eventually, to use this material as data to be fully integrated into a book. The third question is whether Leonardo might not simply have been content to allow his observations, his ideas, and his arguments with authorities to be passed on to others--who could take them from where he had left off.
On the first question, Marinoni asserts that Leonardo's manuscripts can be divided into those that were carefully composed, and the more random type. Marinoni says that it is possible to distinguish a groups of volumes "that are well written and well drawn and contain homogeneous subject matter probably ready for a reader or at least elaborated to a point that only just precedes the final draft" (Marinoni 83). Of course, the issue is confused by the fact that Leonardo went back to the various pages, and added other notes and drawings in the margins that were totally unrelated to the original purpose of the volume. Thus, for example, only 28 of 36 pages in the Codex dedicated to the flight of birds are related to that
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2200
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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