The Codex Leicester [upd] -

But there is another Leonardo. A Leonardo of obsessive curiosity, of messy reverse-script handwriting, and of questions so vast they stretched the limits of 16th-century science.

Specifically, the movement of water. He filled the Codex with drawings of swirling eddies, falling droplets, and river currents. He asked questions like: the codex leicester

One of the most radical ideas in the Codex Leicester is about fossils. In Leonardo’s day, most people believed that seashells found on mountaintops were carried there by Noah’s flood. But there is another Leonardo

The Codex Leicester is a 72-page manuscript that consists of notes, drawings, and diagrams on various scientific topics, including: He filled the Codex with drawings of swirling

Leonardo wrote the Codex Leicester because he couldn't not know. He wasn't trying to publish a book; he was trying to talk to himself about the universe.