false 17994 19 People love secrets. Ever since the first word was written, humans have sent coded messages to each other. In <I>The Code Book</I>, Simon Singh, author of the bestselling <I>Fermat's Enigma</I>, offers a peek into the world of cryptography and codes, from ancient texts through computer encryption. Singh's compelling history is woven through with stories of how codes and ciphers have played a vital role in warfare, politics, and royal intrigue. The major theme of <I>The Code Book</I> is what Singh calls "the ongoing evolutionary battle between codemakers and codebreakers," never more clear than in the chapters devoted to World War II. Cryptography came of age during that conflict, as secret communications became critical to both sides' success.<p> <blockquote>Confronted with the prospect of defeat, the Allied cryptanalysts had worked night and day to penetrate German ciphers. It would appear that fear was the main driving force, and that adversity is one of the foundations of successful codebreaking.</blockquote><p> In the information age, the fear that drives cryptographic improvements is both capitalistic and libertarian--corporations need encryption to ensure that their secrets don't fall into the hands of competitors and regulators, and ordinary people need encryption to keep their everyday communications private in a free society. Similarly, the battles for greater decryption power come from said competitors and governments wary of insurrection.<p> <I>The Code Book</I> is an excellent primer for those wishing to understand how the human need for privacy has manifested itself through cryptography. Singh's accessible style and clear explanations of complex algorithms cut through the arcane mathematical details without oversimplifying. <I>--Therese Littleton</I> 1031975 1999 The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography total:1021|5:386|4:457|3:153|2:22|1:3| 1021 4264 1651 141 5 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Jun 06 18:55:36 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 23:52:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Feb 02 19:03:22 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 12:20:26 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 19:03:22 -0800 2009 wow...
what a FANTASTIC book...
mathematically oriented non-fiction that reads like an anthology of suspense stories...
highly enjoyable...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Oct 04 17:10:03 -0700 2007 Tue Feb 19 18:15:33 -0800 2008
Most interesting was tying the development of codes to actual historical impacts of codes, ciphers, codebreaking, and cryptology. Perhaps one of the ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 09:38:02 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 09:48:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jun 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 08:07:20 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 25 12:57:09 -0700 2009 1.5
However, the rest of the book i...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 22:29:11 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 22:41:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Tue Apr 28 12:43:44 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 12:49:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 07 19:49:37 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 19:50:13 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Sep 06 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Sep 11 16:37:22 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 05:01:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Dec 02 16:48:14 -0800 2008 Sat Apr 11 07:40:02 -0700 2009 Fermat's Enigma, has even included a code to practice one's deciphering skills on. The successful cryptanalyst will win $15,000. In the appendix, he discusses other famous attempts at breaking codes, including the recent book, The Bible Code, by Michael Drosnin. This work caus...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 19:47:32 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 20:09:01 -0800 2007
Simon Singh's provocatively titled The Code Book goes through the history of cryptography from, well, ancient times to the present day, explaining all the major ciphers ever invented and how they impacted the course of of general history, including Mary Queene of Scots, World Wa...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri May 18 10:12:44 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 12:49:14 -0700 2007 Singh starts out with the details of how...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Nov 12 10:40:22 -0800 2008 Fri Sep 11 11:55:00 -0700 2009
Mary Queen of Scots undoing was weak encryption. World War II’s allied victory is attributed to the information received through the breaking of the Enigma c...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 12:19:48 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 12:21:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 04:37:32 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 10:34:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jul 23 15:48:39 -0700 2008 Sun Feb 08 21:15:08 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Fri Feb 27 19:37:24 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 19:45:21 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Sep 18 11:51:18 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 01 05:51:54 -0800 2008 1 Simon Singh, who's yet to write a book I haven't enjoyed...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Jul 04 13:55:54 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 04 14:04:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 15:26:13 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 15:27:30 -0800 2008
This was a fascinating book. The math, the history, the pleasure of figuring out puzzles, it was all fun. Fun!]]>