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

by Simon Singh

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 incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.

Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world’s most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Mathematics, Computer Science, Technology, Popular Science

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Simon Lehna Singh, MBE 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 cryptography and its history), Big Bang (about the Big Bang theory and the origins of the universe) and Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial (about complementary and alternative medicine).

He has also produced documentaries and works for television to accompany his books, is a trustee of NESTA, the National Museum of Science and Industry and co-founded the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme.

Reviews

[Polona]

Nekje med 3 in 4
Sej naceloma je ful zanimiva pa res dosti stvari je noter ampk posledicno je pol tudi precej suhoparna, tko mau prevec tabel s siframi in mau premau o ljudeh, ki so se z njimi ukvarjali za moj okus

[Tina]

Zanimiva tema, napisano pritegujoče, kot vse dobre poljudnoznanstvene knjige. Še posebej sem cenila del o razvozlavanju starih pisav. Prebrala sem jo sicer, ker sem želela nekaj osnov kvantne kriptografije, in žal je knjiga malo stara za to, je pa osnovna ideja predstavljena zelo jasno, in tudi sicer lepo se naveže na klasično kriptografijo. Zastarelost se pozna tudi pri opisovanju protokola za šifriranje e-pošte. Dogajanje med drugo svetovno vojno na področju šifriranja in dešifriranja je res fascinantno, in osredotočanje na človeške zgodbe je tisto, kar naredi knjigo iz dobre zbirke podatkov v dobro branje.