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From the earliest forms of written symbols to today's philosophical explorations, humans have relied on writing to articulate their perspectives on life, identity, the universe, and their deepest beliefs. As a result, some books are straightforward and accessible, found in any local bookstore, while others remain enigmatic, both in their content and their backstories.
Certain books are dense, intricate works that seem almost impossible to decode, offering glimpses into the enigmatic minds of their creators. What drove these authors? What messages or emotions were they attempting to convey? While some literary works defy conventional understanding, modern scholarship confirms their deliberate and meaningful creation. From ancient texts with uncertain beginnings to modern works with unconventional themes, humanity has produced countless extraordinary books that defy the norm. Below are ten astonishing and peculiar books that will leave you questioning their very existence.
10. The Codex Mendoza
The Codex Mendoza is a richly illustrated Aztec manuscript created around 1541, offering a comprehensive account of the Aztec civilization, including their rulers, daily lives, cultural practices, and more. Commissioned for the Spanish king by the recently conquered Aztecs, it features Spanish annotations and explanations to ensure clarity for its intended audience. A Spanish priest, fluent in Nahuatl—the language of the Nahua people, to whom the Aztecs belonged—provided these notes. The manuscript itself was crafted entirely by indigenous scribes, making it a rare and invaluable artifact. Beyond its age and cultural significance, the Codex Mendoza's journey through history adds another layer of intrigue.
Originally intended for Emperor Charles V, the manuscript was sent to Spain by ship but never reached its destination. French pirates intercepted the vessel, and the Codex ended up in France. There, it was acquired by Andre Thevet, a cosmographer serving King Henry II of France, who inscribed his name five times within the manuscript, including two instances dated 1553.
Subsequently, an Englishman named Richard Hakluyt obtained the Codex and brought it to England. However, due to language barriers, its true significance remained unrecognized. It exchanged hands multiple times before being donated to the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in 1659, five years after the death of its last known owner, John Selden. For 172 years, it lay forgotten on library shelves until its rediscovery in 1831, when scholars finally recognized its authenticity and historical value.
9. The Lucifer Principle
Although The Lucifer Principle isn’t a forgotten historical text, it secures its spot on this list due to its controversial assertions and the backlash it provoked. Critics have accused it of leveraging science to justify evil and even fascism. The book argues that evil, in a Nietzschean sense, isn’t merely a negative aspect of humanity to be eradicated but a fundamental, creative force embedded in the fabric of our existence.
Indeed, it suggests that evil is an inherent part of you, society, and even nature itself. Subtitled A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History, the book delivers on its promise, drawing from a wealth of scientific sources like Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene. It weaves a narrative that spans from microscopic genes to organisms, prehistoric warfare, societies, and the vast superorganism of human civilization, aiming to illuminate the darker aspects of our nature.
This book offers a stark, unflinching truth: nature is ruthless, violent, and destructive. It thrives on a cycle of creation through destruction, a principle deeply rooted in the essence of existence. The harsh reality is that evil and destruction are unavoidable. With chapters like “Bloodstains in Paradise” and “Why Humans Must Self-Destruct,” its content has unsettled readers since its 1995 debut. Some editions even boast on their covers that the book has faced calls to be banned.
Your flaws don’t make you evil; rather, evil is woven into the very structures of life itself. Biology’s unyielding truths confirm this reality. Evil is encoded in your DNA. Accept it.
8. The Ripley Scroll
The Ripley Scroll is an enigmatic English alchemical manuscript steeped in occultism and mystery, its meaning shrouded in secrecy. Attributed to George Ripley, an Englishman who lived between approximately 1415 and 1490, the text is notoriously difficult to decipher. Its age and obscurity only add to the challenge. While many medieval works feel alien to modern readers, this occult alchemical text is even more inscrutable. Its style echoes the cryptic language of the Bible’s Book of Revelation, filled with perplexing and symbolic phrases. The scroll frequently employs occultist imagery, presenting baffling statements like:
Transform Water into Earth, Earth into Air, Air into Fire, and Fire into Earth. The Black Sea. The Black Luna. The Black Sol.
. . . and
Upon the ground stands a hill A serpent dwells within a well Its tail is long, its wings spread wide Ready to escape on every side Secure the well without delay Lest the serpent slip away For if it flees, you’ll surely find The stone’s power left behind Know the ground, the well so clear And the dragon’s tail, severe Else your efforts will be in vain And all your labor bring no gain
On the surface, the text appears to delve into the intricacies of alchemy, the ancient pursuit of turning common metals into gold, as many assume. However, alchemy remains deeply enigmatic. Consider the search for the Philosopher’s Stone, a mythical substance believed to transmute base metals into noble ones and also serve as the “elixir of life,” endowed with miraculous healing powers. Beyond this, alchemy’s deeper, Hermetic purpose was the spiritual purification of the alchemist through the quest for this elusive substance.
This explains why the Ripley Scroll and similar alchemical texts are so profoundly intricate, often resembling surrealist literature. Their meanings are cloaked in metaphor, abstraction, poetic language, and symbolism. Compounding the challenge is the fact that the scroll is written in 15th-century Middle English poetry, reminiscent of the Chaucerian style found in The Canterbury Tales, with a focus on rhyme and imagery rather than clarity. This medieval enigma continues to fascinate, and various versions, from the original to modern interpretations, are accessible online.
7. The Satanic Scriptures
Though not shrouded in historical obscurity or illegibility, The Satanic Scriptures by Peter Gilmore, the high priest of the Church of Satan, offers a collection of essays, ideas, and social critiques often overshadowed by Anton LaVey’s The Satanic Bible. Gilmore explores topics such as Satanic marriage rituals, his views on gay marriage versus traditional family structures, and detailed insights into Satanic ceremonies. The work aligns with the broader Satanic Principles, advocating immorality as a life philosophy and extreme individualism. The Church of Satan has always provoked strong reactions, and this lesser-known text, revealing the inner workings of its ideology, is sure to captivate those with unconventional interests and a curiosity about Satanism.
Gilmore compares individuals to black holes, some exerting a powerful, individualistic influence that draws others in, while others are parasitic, clinging to their hosts like a fetus in fetu—a twin absorbed in the womb, reducing them to mere clusters of cells destined to leech off the strong. Several chapters of this work are freely accessible online through the Church of Satan, offering a glimpse into the dark, hedonistic worldview of High Priest Peter H. Gilmore.
6. The Rohonc Codex
The Rohonc Codex remains an enigma, utterly indecipherable in every sense. Since its emergence in the 19th century, it has baffled scholars, linguists, and cryptographers, with not a single word successfully decoded or even identified as belonging to any known language. Unlike ancient texts from lost civilizations, this work was deliberately crafted to obscure its meaning, employing a code that has resisted all attempts at decryption. Its creators went to extraordinary lengths to ensure its secrecy, leaving it as a profound and impenetrable mystery.
The origins of this exquisitely illustrated manuscript are shrouded in historical ambiguity. It first appeared in 1743 in the Rohonc Library in Hungary, though it is not of Hungarian origin. Believed to have been a prayer book owned by a Hungarian individual, its confirmed emergence dates to 1838, when a Hungarian donor in England gifted his entire library to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
It resembles the challenge posed by ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. Efforts to translate the Rohonc Codex into a modern language began in 1840 by Hungarian scholars, with subsequent attempts in 1884 and 1890, all ending in failure. This manuscript stands as one of the world’s most enigmatic literary works. While some dismiss it as an elaborate forgery, others are convinced of its authenticity. Perhaps one day, its code will be cracked, revealing its hidden secrets.
5. Prodigiorum Ac Ostentorum Chronicon
Also known as The Chronicles of Portents and Prophecies, this work was penned by Conrad Lycosthenes in 1557. It compiles an extensive catalog of monsters, occult phenomena, sightings of Halley’s Comet, mythical creatures, and more, tracing these accounts from the time of Adam and Eve through ancient Greece and into the medieval era. Serving as a compendium of bizarre human beliefs up to 1557, it includes numerous grim prophecies reminiscent of those by Nostradamus. The text also features sea monsters, natural disasters, and what some interpret as a UFO—an unidentified celestial object, likely a comet, observed in Arabia in 1479.
Its content and illustrations evoke the nightmares of medieval times and earlier, depicting two-headed beasts and swarms of locusts consuming the Earth. Much like the Ripley Scroll, its cryptic Middle English prose adds to its mystique, offering a fascinating glimpse into a world vastly different from our own. It reads like a sprawling encyclopedia, echoing the style of the Book of Revelation.
4. Codex Seraphinianus
Throughout history, writers have often sought to make their works obscure and unconventional for various reasons. Even in contemporary times, authors employ techniques like specialized jargon, abstract concepts, and what feels like an entirely foreign language to communicate their ideas. This approach can strip readers of their preconceptions, allowing them to view the world through a fresh, unfamiliar perspective.
This is the case with one of history’s most peculiar books, Codex Seraphinianus, crafted by Italian artist, architect, and thinker Luigi Serafini in the late 1970s. Despite its medieval-inspired imagery and surreal illustrations, the work wasn’t published until 1981. Even with its modern origins, it remains nearly incomprehensible, written in a coded language that defies interpretation. The book straddles the line between surrealist art—featuring heads dissected into neat segments that transform into other objects—and scientific illustration, reminiscent of 19th-century anatomical texts.
While the book clearly follows a narrative, its language is entirely unintelligible, not resembling any known language or alphabet—a deliberate choice by its creator. In an era dominated by information, the use of encryption and coded messages raises profound questions about how we use and organize language. Perhaps one day, this work will be decoded, but for now, it stands as an enigmatic piece of art with an indecipherable script rather than a conventional book.
3. Might Is Right
Might Is Right, also known as The Survival of the Fittest, is a controversial work attributed to the pseudonym Ragnar Redbeard, with the true identity of its author remaining unknown. The phrase “might is right” is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as the idea that those with power can act without opposition, even if their actions are unjust.
This unsettling and morally dubious book was first published in 1890. Given the conservative Victorian values of the time, it’s no surprise that the author chose to remain anonymous, as the book’s radical and disturbing content could have led to severe consequences, including imprisonment or worse. Might Is Right has been banned in many places and is rarely published today due to its promotion of egoism, anarchy, and the glorification of strength at the expense of social ethics.
A manifesto of extreme social Darwinism, Might Is Right dismisses all forms of ethics, including natural, human, and civil rights, asserting that rights are only valid if backed by power. According to the book, only physical strength can establish legitimacy in the world. Your rights are meaningless unless you can defend them by force. This shocking philosophy has drawn comparisons to Machiavelli’s The Prince, though Might Is Right is even more extreme and morally bankrupt. For collectors or those intrigued by radical historical ideas, this book stands as one of the most extreme ever written, with few rivals in its content.
2. The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich Manuscript has earned the title “the book that no one can read” from Dictionary.com, and for good reason. Like others on this list, it remains entirely indecipherable. The term “idioglossia” refers to a private language understood by only a select few, a practice dating back to ancient times and still used today, such as in prisons where inmates speak in code to evade detection. This manuscript features a unique writing system unrelated to any known language.
Believed to have been written in the 15th or 16th century, the Voynich Manuscript is another ancient work with mysterious origins that has survived into the modern era. Its author remains unknown. Named after bookseller Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, its history is largely untraceable. The manuscript is filled with illustrations depicting a wide range of subjects. Some pages suggest astrological themes, featuring Zodiac symbols, moons, suns, and other celestial bodies, while others appear to depict basic botany or chemistry, with plants and fruits in intricate jars, possibly hinting at early medicine.
Numerous theories about the manuscript’s origins have been proposed and subsequently debunked. Carbon dating indicates the material dates back to the 1400s, but scholars, cryptologists, and linguists have all failed to decode its meaning. It is speculated that the manuscript was once owned by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, and one page bears the name of his court pharmacist and chemist, Jacobus Horcicky de Tepenec, visible only under ultraviolet light. The Voynich Manuscript remains a modern enigma, a book whose secrets have been lost to time.
1. The Nag Hammadi Codices
The Nag Hammadi Codices are an extensive collection of Christian texts that lay hidden in the Egyptian desert for 1,600 years before their discovery in 1945. These manuscripts form the foundation of Christian Gnosticism, a belief system now being reconstructed after centuries of obscurity. As early Christian authorities sought to establish a unified doctrine, many divergent texts were destroyed. The Nag Hammadi Codices represent a treasure trove of these excluded works, including the complete Gospel of Thomas, a fascinating compilation of Jesus’ purported teachings.
This extensive library, consisting of 52 texts across 13 leather-bound volumes, provides alternative narratives about Jesus’ life. Early Christianity was far more diverse, with numerous sects and texts, many of which remain unknown. The discovery of these codices has illuminated the beliefs and practices of early Christians, offering fresh perspectives, stories, and allegories that challenge the traditional Church’s narrative. The Gnostic texts bring an almost mystical dimension to Christianity, reshaping our understanding of its origins.
