The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

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The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 6,153 ratings · 403 reviews

In his first book since the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and inc...more

Paperback, 432 pages

Published August 29th 2000 by Anchor (first published January 1st 1999)

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Sep 18, 2008 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Geeks and people who like geeks.

Shelves: pop-sci-geek

The Code Book is like geek porn. Explanations of the theories behind cryptography are woven together with anecdotes of times when code-making or code-breaking was integral to historical events. Singh strikes an excellent balance with this book. The clarity of his writing makes the explanations of the mathematics of cryptography very straightforward without dumbing them down, and the historical connections are always fascinating.

Personally, my favorite part was the section devoted to the role cry...more

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Feb 02, 2009 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites

i picked this up at my brother in law's house and started reading it, immediately went out and bought a copy....
wow...
what a FANTASTIC book...
mathematically oriented non-fiction that reads like an anthology of suspense stories...
highly enjoyable...

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Apr 17, 2013 Elyse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Can't say I followed everything in this book but I comprehended enough to enjoy it immensely. The secret codes used in early Western History (substitution and frequency codes) are easy to understand i.e. Mary Queen of Scots secret messages were fairly simple and it's a wonder she wasn't beheaded earlier. The Enigma machine and quantum cryptography made me dizzy. The author includes "fun exercises" in the back of his book. I skipped them. My brain is too out of shape. I mainly read this for the h...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Mark O'Neill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, code, cipher, history, espionage, cryptography, enigma, security

This is a totally gripping book which is extremely readable, easy to understand and a compelling historical account of codes and ciphers right from the times of Eliazbeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, right up to the present day with the internet and emerging technologies.[return][return]What I really like about this book is that Singh easily introduces codes and ciphers to you and you can sit and work out their translations yourself. it's the kind of book that makes you want to get pen and paper a...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Constance rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A little disappointing given how much I loved Fermat's Last Theorem, although still really well-written. The beginning half was really good, but then when it became about secure internet banking and not wars and beheadings and secret languages it kind of got a little boring. Also it was SUPER Anglo-centric. I don't agree with that choice.

I learned that once in ancient Greece somebody shaved the head of his messenger, wrote the message on his scalp, and then waited for the hair to regrow as a for...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Swarbhanu Chatterjee rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting read. There is a certain amount of romanticism involved in stories of secret writing and ciphers. Usually, cipher solving is cryptic and difficult to understand. Simon Singh has a done a fantastic job making the codes often used in history understandable for layman, even those not mathematically inclined. Therefore, it is possible for every one to enjoy the art of secret writing by reading this book.

However, I am not particularly sure of the historical accuracy of certain clai...more A very interesting read. There is a certain amount of romanticism involved in stories of secret writing and ciphers. Usually, cipher solving is cryptic and difficult to understand. Simon Singh has a done a fantastic job making the codes often used in history understandable for layman, even those not mathematically inclined. Therefore, it is possible for every one to enjoy the art of secret writing by reading this book.

However, I am not particularly sure of the historical accuracy of certain claims made in the book. There are a few conspiracy theories which seem to have been accepted as historical truths. For example, for certain historical events like the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was alleged to have corresponded in secret with a conspirator who wanted to kill the protestant Queen Elizabeth and restore to the throne the catholic Queen Mary. But that allegation made by Walsingham, the spy master of Queen Elizabeth, was rejected by Mary. The letters used for the trial which were apparently written in code cracked by Walsingham's cipher expert could have been forgeries made by Walsingham's man under his orders. My reason for suspecting this is because frankly the letter allegation does not hold water. The letters were apparently written in code by the conspirator and Queen Mary apparently could break that code and reply in the same cipher. Since Queen Mary was not a cipher expert herself, how could she or her maids crack the coded letters from an English conspirator outside her castle prison without ever having met the conspirator and therefore never having had agreed on the cipher system being used. Also apparently that cipher was not a well known cipher at that time. And the possibility that the cipher key was passed along with the letter smuggled inside a wine barrel (as what was alleged) does not make sense because who would pass a coded letter and also the cipher key through the same channel of communication. Therefore, I believe that the letter story was a sham. It is just one more cleverly resourceful way of falsely accusing someone that we have often seen in history. Ofcourse, Simon Singh, the author of this book does not investigate whether the story of Queen Mary having used secretly coded letters to communicate with conspirators as claimed by Queen Elizabeth's spy master is actually historically accurate. The story was too "juicy" for him not to have included it in his book, even if the story might be actually historically inaccurate and the letters were forgeries used by Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth to murder her cousin, Queen Mary, who was a political threat to her. My condolences to Queen Mary of Scots though I am several hundred years too late. She would have made a good queen of free Scotland if she could have reigned longer.

Another point, which I am not sure of in terms of historical accuracy is the Betchley Park story. All the documents and machines, allegedly made there during World War II, which apparently broke every German code used in German communications (including Hitler's comms to his generals), are said to have been destroyed. If there is absolutely no evidence left, except the claims of a few guys after about thirty years, then how can these claims be trusted? If all German code was broken during the war, why did the British have such a tough time fighting? Ofcourse, the author, Simon Singh, does not care. He gets another to story to write about.

Despite the historical lack of credibility of the book, I enjoyed reading it as it helped me understand several codes used and raised my level of interest in the subject. The book highlights how important persistence is in all human endeavors.(less)

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Nov 29, 2012 Muhammad al-Khwarizmi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Really good history overall with a few flaws, none of them a deal-breaker.

One was perhaps inevitable: the way the mathematical and computational content is presented. While Singh gets credit for avoiding the dismal trend in science writing for a general audience towards glibness, he sort of finds an unhappy medium. This content is in places described in sufficient detail to say something concrete, yet leave something essential out. Since I read this book as a prelude to more a technical expositi...more

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May 28, 2012 Radhika Gupta rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Code Book tells the history of cryptography starting from Arabs, Egyptians to where it stands in the modern world. After talking about primitive ciphers, which even though are simple are quite ingenious, the book reveals the secrets of the 'Secret Weapon' used during the World War. It tells about the various secret agencies which worked behind the scenes, employed many brilliant people most of whose names were lost in the sealed folders. It gives a very good picture of how these agencies wor...more

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May 01, 2012 Ais rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, science

I'm going to be honest: I absolutely love Simon Singh's books. But of all his books, The Code Book and Big Bang are my favorites. I could go at great length about why I enjoy these books so much, but rather than bore everyone I'll try to make it simple: it's because he manages to write nonfiction in the readability of fiction while still giving the context.

I'm the sort of person who HAS to know the why and how of things. I have spent hours researching something just to write someone making one...more I'm going to be honest: I absolutely love Simon Singh's books. But of all his books, The Code Book and Big Bang are my favorites. I could go at great length about why I enjoy these books so much, but rather than bore everyone I'll try to make it simple: it's because he manages to write nonfiction in the readability of fiction while still giving the context.

I'm the sort of person who HAS to know the why and how of things. I have spent hours researching something just to write someone making one offhanded comment, or if I'm talking to friends and someone asks a throwaway question (like, "Where does this phrase come from?" or "Is it true that ___?") I HAVE to know the answer. I will stop everything and try to find a reliable source for the context of this phrase or that period of history. If I don't, it will bug me way more than it should. Yet, honestly, a lot of times although I'm very interested in history as a concept I have a short attention span for anything that is written too dryly and comes off as a textbook more than anything.

That is why I love Simon Singh. He takes topics which I find interesting but could easily be boring in presentation, then tells the complete history of it-- from well before conception to present day so a person knows the entire context-- and he remains, I feel, rather unbiased throughout. Through this book I learned interesting trivia to mention to friends, the personalities and backgrounds of famous figures in history, how cryptography played a background role in war, and gained an appreciation for cryptography as a whole. This book also worked really well as research for me in order to determine something a cryptanalyst character would need to know. I was recommended this book rather randomly by an acquaintance and I am very happy that I actually followed up on it.

I give this 5 stars because I thought it was a fascinating and easy read, packed with information that stuck with me even years later, and it works as both research and simply quenching a curious mind. You would also not believe the amount of little sticky-note flags I put in it (to the point that I forgot what my color-coding system was...) I am actually so geeky about this that I've thought about buying extra copies to give to people.

I mean really. A book on cryptography and I want to give it as a gift. To me, it is that good.

And I should emphasize: I am NOT normally a nonfiction reader. So the fact that I found a nonfiction author I love so much is another reason Simon Singh, and particularly this book, tend to be high on my recommendation list for people I may not otherwise have anything in common with.(less)

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Ais haha you sound like me...

I have to admit, I weirdly love buying nonfiction books on specific topics. One of my favorite things to buy at used booksto...more haha you sound like me...

I have to admit, I weirdly love buying nonfiction books on specific topics. One of my favorite things to buy at used bookstores are dictionaries for various languages I don't even know. I have shelves of books on different topics that sounded interesting to me at the time, including a 'weapons of the world' encyclopedia. I am also terrible about buying maps because I never know if characters will show up in that country and/or the map just seems cool. I bought books on central Asia and the Chateaux of the Loire because there were going to be scenes there.

But the problem is, usually I don't read them. So it's kind of pointless to buy them lol I've learned to stop myself from buying it if I don't think I'll use it, or to go for very visual books so I can work off the art and use it as descriptions instead. Like you, I also like to ask people who are more experts on a subject, particularly with unimportant questions that would take way too long to research the answer.

That's why I love Simon Singh's books so much, because I really do have strangely little patience for reading nonfiction books despite the fact that I enjoy researching. But I think I enjoy researching in a visual manner more (watching videos, looking at pictures, finding streets on Google street view, etc). For whatever reason, his books read enough like fiction to me but with the depth and context of history, that I find them to be very enjoyable.

I hope I'm not talking them up too much, though, and you get disappointed if you ever check it out. I tend to rave about things I love to the point that I probably make it so the very thing I like will never be able to meet others' expectations...

One thing I will say: although I like most of his books, the Code Book is my favorite. The one book of his I picked up and didn't get more than a few pages in was Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine. Whether or not the fact that it was his only co-written book plays into it, that was the only book of his that going into it I felt like it may be biased one way or another. And I'm not very interested in reading about opinions, I'd rather read collections of facts and form my own opinion.

I still plan to try again sometime, though. I might not have given it a fair shot since I think I went into it expecting it to be a certain way. haha I probably messed up my own expectations on that one.

Anyway, maybe you could try borrowing one of his books from the library sometime. It may be your thing or it may not, but it may be interesting to try and at least that way it would be free.(less)
06 mai 18:58

Ais They're definitely available on Amazon, or at least were last time I checked. :)
07 mai 19:17

Sep 20, 2011 Julia Hughes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science

Mr Singh manages to explain concepts that should be way beyond this thickie's level of understanding. That he manages to do so in an entertaining page turning manner is testament to his skill both as a mathematician and a writer. This book examines how from earliest history in parallel with writing, it became necessary for human kind to devise ways to send messages in code. So we learn how complex codes developed from very simple ones, and Simon explains along the way that there are ancient code...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Jigar Brahmbhatt rated it 4 of 5 stars

A tour de force for anyone remotely interested in cryptography. Singh has done a marvelous job of chronologically describing the art of hiding information from the Rosetta stone, to the lesser known message hiding tricks used in Queen Mary's court, followed by the Enigma machine, till the emergence of computers. He backs up the technical details with intriguing history, which only makes up for a wonderful reading experience.

My favorite part in the book was the explanation of Quantum Cryptograph...more

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Jul 27, 2011 James added it

A book on the history and application of cryptology, ranging from the Roman scytale to Mary Queen of Scots, the deciphering of Linear B, the Allied effort against the Enigma, and quantum cryptology.

Singh concocts a well-balanced mixture of history, math, narrative and physics. Two of the personal stories should have certainly been left out; this book can stand on its own without hints of modern, agenda-driven politics. But otherwise this is a compelling read.

Only one true complaint. Toward the v...more

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Aug 27, 2010 Xing rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very much enjoyed the balance between practical applications and theoretical concepts. One of the foremost themes in this book is 'necessity is the mother of invention'- Simon places mathematical, nuts-and-bolts descriptions of various coding systems firmly within the context of history and emphasises the driving evolutionary force behind their development and the personalities and contributions of people involved.
At the same time he delves deeply into scientific principles behind not only the...more Very much enjoyed the balance between practical applications and theoretical concepts. One of the foremost themes in this book is 'necessity is the mother of invention'- Simon places mathematical, nuts-and-bolts descriptions of various coding systems firmly within the context of history and emphasises the driving evolutionary force behind their development and the personalities and contributions of people involved.
At the same time he delves deeply into scientific principles behind not only the processes of encryption and decryption, but also the characteristics of the media used to generate, transmit, and decode messages, allowing the reader to appreciate how limitations in physics, math, and technology offer users temporary security until further breakthroughs usher in a new wave of creativity and frenzied competition.

It's always funny to think how cutting-edge technology in one era becomes relegated to children's games in the next- codes are only as strong as their weakest link- even when they rely on a slew of different techniques and levels of encryption. It's especially fascinating to realise how minds of different individuals come up with the same ideas and tap similar veins of inspiration- imagine being given a coded text, and applying as many methods of code breaking that can occur to you to it, eventually hitting upon the very one that works. It seems such an incredibly unlikely thing that a complex formula employed by one person, with its idiosyncrasies, should yield to the efforts of a few dedicated code breakers- it's really a testament to our shared biological makeup. Psychological states make such a huge difference as well- when you believe that a puzzle's inherently solvable, or can be cracked reasonably easily, that confidence goes a long way. Side note: the National Scottish Museum has a real Enigma machine on display! I made a sketch of it during my last visit.

I loved the descriptions of how knowledge is withheld from the public domain during war time or by military organisations. As with other research areas that get funded by places like DARPA, it's rather annoying but tremendously thrilling to think of how in reality the 'leading edge' of technology is almost certainly far ahead of one's conception of it..some of it hopefully to be revealed and appreciated within one's lifetime.
Very importantly, the book examines current methods of encryption, their strengths and underlying assumptions, differences in the standards imposed by governments, the probability of their being breached in the future, and exciting (to me insanely esoteric) outlines of how quantum computing might offer the means to factor numbers in the order of 10 to the power of 308 (used in RSA public-key cryptography for important banking transactions).
The only bit I found disagreeable was on quantum money, as I've virtually no understanding of how it could be implemented, e.g. how could photons be 'trapped' and then released to be measured through Polaroid filters? I've been reading a bit about how photons have a 50% probability of passing through slits angled obliquely to their spins (in Brian Greenes's The Fabric of the Cosmos), and the whole concept sounds fishy and impenetrable to me. Surely there's something behind the 50% phenomenon that's significant to understanding how photons behave? Anyway, that's just one of too many unexplained assumptions in that section to convince the lay person.
Another side note: I happened read Skype's info page about their digital encryption system (having read The Code Book, I was able to understand the gist of it). Here's the link for anyone who's interested: http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/secur...(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Becky B rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, math

Simon Singh presents the history of codes, ciphers and code breaking and the influence of history, linguistics, math, and science (and vice versa). He clarifies in the introduction that he just picked out some highlights and aimed at writing this for the layperson so he doesn't claim to present an exhaustive history or to use as many technically specific terms as other books might use.

I generally enjoy puzzles, so I found this book highly interesting. Unlike some other histories focused on part...more Simon Singh presents the history of codes, ciphers and code breaking and the influence of history, linguistics, math, and science (and vice versa). He clarifies in the introduction that he just picked out some highlights and aimed at writing this for the layperson so he doesn't claim to present an exhaustive history or to use as many technically specific terms as other books might use.

I generally enjoy puzzles, so I found this book highly interesting. Unlike some other histories focused on particular topics I've read recently, I felt this one was well-organized and flowed logically rather than rambling. I also found the text for the most part written in an approachable and highly readable form. I particularly found the section on methods of just hiding messages interesting (like writing secret messages on boiled eggs through the shell), and stories of important codes and code breakers in history like the Enigma crackers and the Navajo Code Talkers. There were some points when Singh patiently broke down into detailed steps how various groups wrote or broke codes; I had grasped the concept pretty fast usually so just skimmed all of his detailed explanations. As a teacher, I do appreciate that he explained it well and in simple terms so as to not leave all readers in the dust, but part of me also just wanted to get on with the story. The last couple chapters were on electronic cryptography developments for the internet and computers, and theoretical cryptography which I did not find as interesting. (It was also written in 1999, so pre 9/11 and I couldn't help wondering what had changed in the years since then. Of course, given the nature of cryptography, the public may not know for another 50 years given historical precedents.)

There are several codes and ciphers included in the back of the book to let readers have a crack at doing some code cracking of their own. I decided to write my review before trying my hand at some of those.

If you like puzzles you should find this an interesting read. Feel free to skim parts when you've already grasped the technical details and get on to the next story.(less)

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Feb 01, 2013 Amy Raby rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was an amazing book. Highly recommended if you have an interest in history, mathematics, languages, or computers. Slam dunk if you like all four!

Ever wonder just how secure your credit card number really is when you buy something online? After reading this book, you will know not only how secure it is, but exactly what mathematical principle protects it, and what it would take for a thief to decrypt the protocol and steal it.

This book also discusses the earliest ciphers, from the "Caesar sh...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Pallavi rated it 5 of 5 stars

I never thought I'd love a book about mathematics, or ever see the beauty of mathematics. My mother was definitely right when she kept pestering me to work harder on my math and argued that it was EVERYWHERE! (I had argued back saying I would be fine as long as I could perform the basic calculations!)
Maybe this is what growing up is about!
That being said, this is a very informative book about the past, present and future of cryptography. Singh takes us on a journey from ancient times where simpl...more

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Jan 25, 2012 Nikunj rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

The Code Book is an excellent account of the history of cryptography that spawns many generations. The book is an account of codes and ciphers and how are they a fundamental building block in the evolution of mankind. It tells the story of the most important intellectual weapon ever known: Secrecy.

Since human beings started writing they have been writing in codes and Simon Singh has a very powerful way of narrating this amazing story. A story where we came to know about much known and some lesse...more

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May 11, 2013 Kumar rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

(view spoiler)...more Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

(view spoiler)

This book is as much about logic and facts and methods and algorithms as it is about determination, intellect and inspired genius. One could argue that in terms of facts the book offers nothing more than what Wikipedia can, but it is the narrative that keeps your glued to the pages. It could easily have become a boring treatise on the past, present and future of cryptography/cryptanalysis, but the author has done a commendable job in stringing it all together into a coherent piece on human endeavor.

Overall, a must read.
(less)

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Oct 07, 2011 Jennifer H. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I thought this book would be dry and boring, but oh no! I love a good puzzle, and this history of making, cracking, and innovating secret codes was enthralling. And it gets better ... at the end of the book there are codes to try your hand out. I got pretty excited when I solved the first (and easiest one). They got harder and the book became overdue at the library so I gave it up. For about a week I had the idea that I was going to be the best code cracker ever and that the CIA would HAVE to hi...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Siby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-military-history, non-fiction

I am an avid reader of books on military history and this book had been on my wish list for a while. When I finally got my hands on it, it certainly did not disappoint.
Intelligence (in the military sense and otherwise) or the lack of it has determined the course of wars and the fate of many lives for centuries. Espionage has been the glamorous arm of intelligence gathering, but cryptography has been the backbone on which nations have conducted their military operations and the fundamental buildi...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fantastic! I am not much of a math person, although I love statistics, and logic. And I've always been fascinated by history, and I love working on cryptograms and have always been fascinated with codes/cryptography. Here's the thing too. I have always considered myself an amateur philologist and I did not put together, until I was reading this book, how related cryptography was to language and the origin of words. Early cryptography anyway with its focus on substitution and sequencing and the e...more

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Jan 19, 2011 D. rated it 5 of 5 stars

After reading Cryptonomicon (one and a half year ago), I decided I wanted to know a bit more about cryptography and ordered this book. It took a while for me to start it (one and a half years), but it was definitely worth it. Singh takes the reader through the history of cryptography, pretty much from start to near-future and does it in a way anybody can understand. His writing style is very 'chatty', informal, and he often tells fun and engaging little (true) anecdotes and stories involving cry...more

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Feb 19, 2008 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very fun! A mixture of puzzles (codes), math (very light) and history. It was a pretty easy read that can be done over a period of time.

Most interesting was tying the development of codes to actual historical impacts of codes, ciphers, codebreaking, and cryptology. Perhaps one of the best explanations of Diffie-Hellman and RSA techniques - very understandable!

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Jan 16, 2013 Rob Ward rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had previously read/listened to Singh's Fermat's Last Theorum as an audiobook and had enjoyed it but though I had seen this on my brother's shelf whenever I was back at my parents' place in the British Midlands, it never quite made it into the more plausible ranks of my to read list. Experience tells me (or perhaps it should be, ought to tell me), there are things I believe I enjoy and in fact don't, and similarly, that there are things I think I don't much enjoy and in fact enjoy very much. M...more I had previously read/listened to Singh's Fermat's Last Theorum as an audiobook and had enjoyed it but though I had seen this on my brother's shelf whenever I was back at my parents' place in the British Midlands, it never quite made it into the more plausible ranks of my to read list. Experience tells me (or perhaps it should be, ought to tell me), there are things I believe I enjoy and in fact don't, and similarly, that there are things I think I don't much enjoy and in fact enjoy very much. Maths and science are two of those things I tend to enjoy very much, but underrate in my own mind so that they invariably give way to miserabilist novels, Czech grammar and dogged attempts at dictionary-aided french books.

Singh writes about complicated material in a comprehensible manner. That much is fundamental to getting a book like this to be approachable and readable. He also has a pitch perfect feel for adding just enough human interest to each story (and both of the his books feel like they advance chapter by chapter, story by story), to humanise the highly abstract material whilst feeling unforced and certainly uncondescending.

The book takes in the obvious and the relatively well-known, such as the story of the Enigma Code. It takes on public key cryptography, which is used on a daily basis by millions but understood by few. It discusses the implications of the battle between those who seek to encrypt information and those who attempt to decrypt and intercept it, most notably in terms of the future of the internet. It also, rather bravely, takes on a significant digression, on the deciphering of Linear B, an ancient text found in Greece and Crete.

Singh succeeded in explaining each of these areas and contextualising them, populating them all with the stories of those individuals who made significant contributions. I did not know, for example, that it was the Poles who first made significant inroads into the Enigma code, furnishing the British with almost all of the elements necessary to breaking the code, which had initially been considered impregnable by both the Germans and the Allies. The sometimes stubborn tweedy eccentrics behind both the solving of the mysteries of the Linear B tablets and those who perhaps held up any progress for a number of decades was also fascinating. More contemporarily, Singh is also on comfortable ground with the baby boomers of Silicon valley and its peers and competitors, and explains the complexities of public key encryption and others forms of encryption used in home computing with consistent skill. After that the book unavoidably becomes a little more esoteric, but Singh tackles the bizarre laws of quantum theory and its implications for cryptography with as comprehensibly as I have ever seen. Though I increasingly found myself turning back pages to re-read sentences and refer to tables as I made my way through the book, I invariably did so with interest rather than frustration, and though I may be deluded, I didn't feel as though confusions and misunderstandings were piling up as I worked my way through to the modern day (or as much as we can be expected to know of it in such a work, which is in any case old enough now to make a considerable difference in such terrain.)

I would recommend this book to anyone who uses the internet for private communication, banking or shopping, but also to anyone who enjoys narrative history, whether they would feel comfortable with maths and linguistics and the many other areas this work takes on, or not.(less)

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Jul 12, 2011 Sheehan rated it 4 of 5 stars

In a word, "fascinating..."

I was given this book as a gift from my aunt, to whom it was recommended from a mutual friend as an accessible and interesting history of ciphers and code breakers, it was both!

Singh does a great job distilling a long history of the ongoing struggle between those who wish to keep communications secret and the minds that figure out how to unveil the secret communiques. The book is interesting to a layman such as myself, precisely because it moves through the history by...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Jeremy Matters rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-stuff, non-fiction

By carefully combining the technical details of the development of cryptography with a rich and fascinating description of the relevant historical context in which each major breakthrough occurred, Singh has managed a remarkable feat: he has created a piece of technical non-fiction that is a real page-turner.

In each chapter, he explores another aspect of the great battle between codemakers and codebreakers, creating suspense and tension, and simultaneously explaining how the process works, from...more

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May 09, 2012 James Oden rated it 3 of 5 stars

Really enjoyed reading this. It provided a good history of of cryptography and cryptanalysis. My favorite part was the discussion of the work to crack the enigma code. Imagine that the ability to read or not read Nazi communiques literally meant the difference between life and death to members of your family, community and nation. Imagine that your activities in this intellectual pursuit of decryption made you a target of Nazi Germany. It's not just a puzzle you are solving, but life and death i...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Eric Kolb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, science

This book was essentially a primer on cipher-breaking, stepping through the most primitive monoalphabetic ciphers and advancing through the decipherment of Enigma in WWII and the birth of modern cryptography. This story is well appointed with historical narrative, but this starts to fade fast in the modern era. While the drama of cryptography and cryptanalysis was literally a matter of life and death in the time of Mary Queen of Scots and through to WWII, western courtrooms strip the drama down...more

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Jun 25, 2009 Chris Herdt rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who wonders why HTTPS is secure

Recommended to Chris by: Chassy

The main reason Chassy lent this book to me is for the chapter explaining asynchronous or public key cryptography, which makes secure communication over the Internet feasible. I had to read that chapter twice, but I am happy to say that I understand it now.

However, the rest of the book is pretty amazing too. The Beale Cipher is a fantastic story (and which I believe is a hoax, although you never know), and cracking the German Enigma machine is an important and often overlooked part of W.W. II hi...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Adam Wiggins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Political assassination plots, romantic liaisons, military secrets, and buried treasure are just a few of the themes wrapped up in the history of cryptography.

This book makes an dry and highly technical subject extremely accessible. First, by telling these stories from history -- ranging from the assassination plot by Mary, Queen of Scots against Queen Elizabeth of England in 1586 up through the political martyrdom of Phil Zimmerman for the invention of PGP encryption, which brought computerized...more Political assassination plots, romantic liaisons, military secrets, and buried treasure are just a few of the themes wrapped up in the history of cryptography.

This book makes an dry and highly technical subject extremely accessible. First, by telling these stories from history -- ranging from the assassination plot by Mary, Queen of Scots against Queen Elizabeth of England in 1586 up through the political martyrdom of Phil Zimmerman for the invention of PGP encryption, which brought computerized encryption to the masses and ushered in the era of secure online commerce. And second, by providing plainly-written step-by-step descriptions of the functioning of each cipher and the technique that can be used to break it. It should be noted I have a professional background in software cryptography, but I still think these descriptions would be understandable to a lay audience.

For example, a monoalphabetic substitution cipher (what I call "secret decoder ring cryptography") was the world's gold standard for encryption for thousands of years -- until Arab mathematicians invented frequency analysis in the 9th century AD, almost completely nullifying the value of that cipher.

Thus began the arms race between cryptographers (aka codemakers) and cryptanalysts (aka codebreakers), a multi-eon game of cat and mouse between thousands of the world's mathematical and linguistic geniuses. This war is fought almost completely behind closed doors because of the massive military value of secure communications, so most of these individuals didn't get recognition for their work until after their death.

One of the most tragic cases is Alan Turing, who broke the Enigma cipher during World War II, and in the process invented the modern computer ("Turing machine"). Despite having almost single-handedly defeated the Nazis and creating the technology that would usher in the Information age for mankind, his work was considered military secrets and known only to a few. He was outed as a homosexual in his middle years, resulting in criminal prosecution and chemically castrated by the government. He committed suicide a few years later.

The book also takes a chapter to dive into a related topic: deciphering ancient written languages. While not cryptography, similar sleuthing techniques can be applied to try to read written texts in languages that have been lost to humanity's collective knowledge. The book details the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs (made somewhat trivial by the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the ultimate crib), and Linear B (a script used in the kingdom of Minos, the place where the labyrinth/Minotaur legend originates). Linear A remains undeciphered and continues to enthrall the minds of linguists and codebreakers to this day.

The book was written in 2000 and concludes by talking about the battles between civil libertarians (who wished to make encryption freely available for all) and governments (who wish to control encryption as a weapon of war). This is instructive in and of itself -- just in the twelve short years since that time, this issue has been completely resolved. The civil libertarians won, and as a result we have a thriving online economy made possible by asymmetric key cryptography.
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About Simon Singh

Simon Lehna Singh, MBE (born 1 January 1964) is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner. He is the maiden winner of the Lilavati Award.

His written works include Fermat's Last Theorem (in the United States titled Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem), The Code Book (about cryptogra...more

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Books by Simon Singh

Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem

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The science of secrecy: The secret history of codes and codebreaking

The Science Book: 250 Milestones in the History of Science

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