Code Book The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, Simon Singh, Simon Singh. (Hardcover 0756754739)

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Code Book The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Author: Simon Singh, Simon Singh

Codes have decided the fates of empires, countries, and monarchies throughout recorded history. Mary, Queen of Scots was put to death by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, for the high crime of treason after spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham cracked the secret code she used to communicate with her conspirators. And thus the course of British history wa... more »s altered by a few sheets of cryptic prose. This is just one link in humankind's evolutionary chain of secret communication, and just one of the fascinating incidents recounted in The Code Book, written by bestselling author Simon Singh.

Combining a superb storyteller's sense of drama and a scientist's appreciation for technical perfection, Singh traces the evolution of secret writing from ancient Greek military espionage to the frontiers of computer science. The result is an epic tale of human ingenuity, with examples that range from the poignant to the peculiar to the world-historical.

There is the case of the Beale ciphers, which involves Wild West escapades, a cowboy who amassed a vast fortune, a buried treasure worth $20 million, and a mysterious set of encrypted papers describing its whereabouts--papers that have baffled generations of cryptanalysts and captivated hundreds of treasure hunters.

A speedier end to a bloody war was the only reward that could be promised to the Allied code breakers of World Wars I and II, whose selfless contributions altered the course of history; but few of them lived to receive any credit for their top-secret accomplishments. Among the most moving of these stories is that of the World War II British code breaker Alan Turing, who gave up a brilliant career in mathematics to devote himself to the Allied cause, only to end his years punished by the state for his homosexuality, while his heroism was ignored. No less heroic were the Navajo code talkers, who volunteered without hesitation to risk their lives for the Allied forces in the Japanese theater, where they were routinely mistaken for the enemy.

Interspersed with these gripping stories are clear mathematical, linguistic, and technological demonstrations of codes, as well as illustrations of the remarkable personalities--many courageous, some villainous, and all obsessive--who wrote and broke them.

All roads lead to the present day, in which the possibility of a truly unbreakable code looms large. Singh explores this possibility, and the ramifications of our increasing need for privacy, even as it begins to chafe against the stated mission of the powerful and deeply secretive National Security Agency. Entertaining, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this is a book that will forever alter your view of history, what drives it, and how private that e-mail you just sent really is.

Included in the book is a worldwide Cipher Challenge--a $15,000 award will be given by the author to the first reader who cracks the code successfully. Progress toward the solution will be tracked on The Code Book website.

ISBN-13: 9780756754730
ISBN-10: 0756754739
Pages: 402
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Publisher: Diane Pub Co
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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ROBERT T. (BOB) reviewed Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography on 7/5/2011

Helpful Score: 1

This is an excellent history of cipher and code breaking from its' infancy through today. Some of the technical aspects of more modern code breaking is hard reading to understand the principles but one who is interested in learning the technical details about code breaking will find it very educational.

I found the detail of the beale papers very challenging.

Bob T.

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Derek B. (mapreader) reviewed Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography on 10/3/2012

This is an excellent overview of the history of cryptography. It really does cover the topic from the Roman Empire through modern public key encryption. More importantly, it does so in a very readable way. I cannot recommend this book too strongly for a lay person with an interest in cryptography.

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Jason B. (theboseth) reviewed Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography on 12/5/2009

I found this book a very interesting read into the history of cryptology. Stories of the lives and actions of historical figures are used to introduce and exemplify different codes and ciphers.

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Shaun (sec) - , reviewed Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography on 12/5/2008 + 31 more book reviews

Concise and surprisingly readable history of cryptography. Very entertaining and easy read. There are even sample codes to work through using the various stages and ages of cryptography. Very fun and enlightening read!

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