World Codex: Book One is a collection of fiction and nonfiction stories of true crime, history and science fiction written by the World Codex Staff. The collection begins with the story of The Somerton Man. On December 1, 1948, the body of a man was discovered on Somerton Beach in Australia. He appeared to be asleep, with a half-finished cigarette lying on his lapel. The discovery led to much speculation about his appearance there as well as his identity. The police eventually found a suitcase that had been left in storage in the Adelaide Railway Station, which contained belongings eventually tied to The Somerton Man. As they searched further, they found links to a young woman whose child was discovered to have the same genetic abnormality as The Somerton Man. The woman, who called herself Jestyn, also had connections with Alf Boxall, who was in the military. How did The Somerton Man die, and what were the circumstances that led to his death?

The World Codex Staff’s collection of fiction and nonfiction stories of true crime, history and science fiction, World Codex: Book One, kept me happily engaged and reading from start to finish. I instantly felt at home with the staff’s penchant for finding odd and mysterious tales, and loved seeing how they made the missing connections and came up with solutions. The Somerton Man is a marvelous beginning to this collection, and the eerie story of Ed Gein, as told in Burning the Scarecrow, continued to delight and enthrall. I particularly enjoyed the graphics and illustrations that appear throughout the work. While I often search the internet for additional details while I’m reading a work, I found that the World Codex Staff usually was one step ahead of me and had already provided me with all the extra data I could want. Then there’s the codes, and the way certain numbers work, and the mention of Nikola Tesla -- what more could a codex lover look for? World Codex: Book One is most highly recommended.

Unsolved mysteries, trailblazing concepts and scientific breakthroughs are at the heart of World Codex, an unusual and eclectic compilation painstakingly gathered and reported by the World Codex Staff and the first book in a promising new series. What makes this cross-pollination between Unsolved Mysteries and Mad Magazine so interesting is that it goes well beyond the boundaries of “normal” and even includes a code decryption wheel for those readers eager to satisfy their curiosity.

World Codex introduces readers to the “RDF”, otherwise known as Razor Data Funnel, which is part mathematical equation and part coded logic tool used in problem solving. The RDF came in particularly handy in the case of The Somerton Man which involved the death of a fully-clothed male discovered on Somerton Beach in Australia back in December of 1948. Associated with his mysterious death was a code that remained unbroken for almost 60 years, but using the RDF formula, the code was broken in less than five hours. More recently, the RDF was able to identify the Golden State Killer, a person responsible for countless attacks in the seventies and eighties. With the use of the RDF formula, the culprit’s identity was discovered in just over an hour. In addition to these reports, World Codex also reports a wide variety of bizarre and unsettling stories and events such as Burning the Scarecrow, the story of Ed Gein, otherwise known as The Butcher of Plainfield; Tantibus, a narrative by Herman Holmes, a survivor of the Titanic, which was first published by the defunct Planet Poetry, a failed literary magazine back at the turn of the last century; and Beyond Proxima, the story of Aliana, found abandoned in a metallic box near Monument Valley.

The reports within World Codex are generously supplemented with facts, copies of newspaper clippings and colorful photographs which demand closer scrutiny, sure to whet even the most reticent armchair detective’s appetite. Although the information itself is presented in an organizational mishmash that could use better cohesion, this does not hamper the reader’s innate curiosity and thirst for knowledge, thanks in no small part to the code decryption wheel provided within the book’s pages. However, it would have been particularly insightful for the reader had the authors prefaced each report with a paragraph or two indicating why they had chosen each particular report. Despite these minor shortcomings, World Codex is nevertheless sure to provide both entertainment and intellectual stimulation for hosts of conspiracy theorists, mystery lovers and science fiction aficionados.

World Codex by the World Codex Staff is a collection of true, unsolved mysterious accounts and happenings, some having been decoded by a logic tool known as the Razor Data Funnel. Some of these events are told by the people who experienced them. And even though some of them are not professional writers, you are not able to tell for they do an excellent job of putting you directly into those life changing moments. The secretive experiences range from the burning of a scarecrow, to a man found dead on the shores of Australia with a message that until now hadn’t been decoded, and alien abductions. Although the book is on the short side, it is brimming with information and stories that are effectively told.

I was blown away by World Codex, authored and compiled by the World Codex Staff. It is the second book that I’ve read by the World Codex Staff and it did not disappoint me in any way, shape or form. The stories in this book will sometimes make you not want to continue reading because you get the sense of what’s coming next and you don’t want to see it happen. As though if you were to stop reading, it couldn't possibly come to fruition. Expect to get goosebumps on every inch of your body. The chapter that really took hold of me personally was “Burning the Scarecrow.” I have a feeling that nightmares are in store for me later tonight. If you gravitate to the kind of reading that will make you question the world, and are up for opening your mind to the unknown, this is definitely the book for you. Cryptograms, superstitions, and fiction that become facts are all in store and waiting for you to decode and experience.

Mysteries abound throughout the world and there are always cases that never end up being solved. In this Codex, you’ll find a number of those amazing stories, clips and pieces. It’s a series of stories that will draw you in and make you think twice about what’s going on in the world around you. You’ll feel like you’re surrounded by mysteries, by horror and by a whole lot of strange events without knowing just how to feel about it. The World Codex by World Codex Staff will take you from the Theater of Dionysus in times nearly before recorded history to modern day Monument Valley and many places in between, and make you more than ready to read the next installment.

The mystery of the Somerton Man is still a mystery today. The miracle pill cure for unhappiness made men rich without cause. The SAVANT searches for technology of the future. No matter what mystery you’re looking to resolve, you’re going to find some amazing ideas and thoughts in here. You won’t know what to expect and you’ll never know if the case could possibly be resolved. There’s no end to the mysteries that abound in the world and World Codex, Book 1 is going to help you see that. Prepare yourself for more than you could imagine and then know that you’re going to be amazed and confounded even further still. Whether it’s trying to solve the mysteries yourself or just trying to understand how anything even happened the way it did, you’ll never want to stop reading this book.