Italian man uses 'mirror writing' to type copies of 81 books backward

Jan. 11 (UPI) -- An Italian man who used a technique called "mirror writing" to type copies of 81 books holds the Guinness World Record for most books typed backward.

The record-keeping organization said Michele Santelia, 63, of Campobasso, has copied 81 books by working backward -- creating a mirror image of the original text -- and the languages he has typed in include Hieroglyphs, Old Hebrew, Traditional Chinese, Mayan, Etruscan, Cuneiform and Voynich glyphs.

Santelia told GWR he uses four blank keyboards for each project and codes the keys to the language for any particular project. He has typed backward copies of Epic of Gilgamesh, the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Code of Hammurabi, the Bible and Leonardo da Vinci's writings.

The typist's projects also include a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records 2002.

Santelia said he was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, who was known to use mirror writing in his work.