notebooks of Leonardo contain sketches and plans for inventions that came into existence almost five-hundred years after the Renaissance. Leonardo practiced a technique of writing backwards. It has been postulated that he did this, being left-handed, so that he wouldnt smear the ink by his left hand running across newly-written words. Moreover, the individual words are spelled backwards. In order to read the Notebooks one must hold the pages up to a mirror and it is believed by some that Leonardo did this to keep his writing and theories secret. In any event, contained in the Notebooks are plans and drawings for what we recognize today as the first working propeller, a submarine, a helicopter, a tank, parachutes, the cannon, perpetual motion machines, and the rope ladder. There are perfectly executed drawings of the human body, from the proportions of the full figure to dissections in the most minute detail. It was observed, however, that Leonardos interest in the human body and his ability to invent mechanical things were actually not as paramount to him as was his fascination and awe of the natural world (Clark 133). Leonardo lived to be 67 years old. He is not known to have ever married or had children. In fact, it was said of him that he only saw women as reproductive mechanisms (Clark 134). If there is one quality that characterizes the life of Leonardo da Vinci it would be his curiosity for life and the world around him. Curiosity is the force that motivated him to observe, dissect and document every particle of matter that warranted his attention. From babies in the womb to seashells on the beach, nothing escaped his relentless intellect. The mind of Leonardo transcends the period of the Renaissance and every epoch thereafter. It is universally acknowledged that his imagination, his powers of reason, and his sheer energy surpass that of any person in history. The study of Leonardo is limited only by the inadequacy of the student...
