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| The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography | 
| Author: Simon Singh
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $3.48
You Save: $12.47 (78%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (252 reviews)
Sales Rank: 15843
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.9 x 1
ISBN: 0385495323
Dewey Decimal Number: 652.809
EAN: 9780385495325
ASIN: 0385495323
Publication Date: August 29, 2000
Release Date: August 29, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
The Code Book - Understandable, Fun, Engaging April 7, 2008
For a book on cryptology from a historical perspective it's really hard to believe it would be as entertaining as Singh makes it. Using his skill as an author he weaves history, technology, and methods of encryption together to explain topics that normally would leave many of us in the blind.
The most interesting thing about the whole book is that as you begin to read up on forms of encryption and decryption you begin to absorb yourself into the whole culture. One chapter describes the Beale Ciphers, a set of ciphers that gained popularity especially in the early 1900s and still are significant today linking to a fabulous treasure and yet still remaining unbroken. I remember spending the day after reading up on it thinking of ways I'd try to break the cipher. Not many books fill your mind with such rich images and excitement as this book seems to.
Generally, the book is wonderful and has enough to keep you hooked until the very end despite its historical nature.
 you will like it April 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Simon Singh does a very clever thing. He takes comlex topics and makes them understandable without dumming down the science or math.
Excellent!!! March 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you have never read a Simon Singh book, it's time to begin now! While most Singh books can seem a bit boring when you read the synopsis (can a book about codes really be interesting??), this is not the case. He has a wonderfull way of explaining complicated things in an understandable way. I will also highly recommend "Fermat's enigma" and "Big bang".
wonderful historical account of the use of cryptography February 9, 2008
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
As a mathematician in the early 1970s, I saw many advertisements recruiting mathematicians for the CIA. I knew that it had to do with cryptography and number theory but it was all very mysterious and since I never got a job with them I didn't see precisely how the disciplines fit together. As Singh describes the discover of the RSA coding system it all becomes very clear.
The story he tells is particularly interesting because it starts with the ancient Romans and the decoding of the conspiracy messages of Mary Queen of Scots in Elizabethian England.
Singh also wrote an very interesting account in layman's terms of the discoveries that led to the proof of Fermat's last theorem. That skill is also demonstrated in this book where the key concepts of cryptgraphy are discussed as they were developed through history. The uses of cryptography in World War I and World War II are brought out. We learn of the men in England at Bletchley Park who were able to decypher the German Enigma Machine and play a major role in the latter success of the allies. The gain of information from the U boats enabled the Americans to transport supplies and soldiers to Europe to fight the war. The U boats were very successful at destroying American ships prior to the breaking of the code.
It is interesting that after the war the academic community in the United States solved the problem of key passing for computer networks and developed the RSA code. These discovery were developed earlier and independently in England at their secret agency the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) based on the unheralded ideas of James Ellis. Their work was kept secret until the late 1990s when their achievements were finally brought to light.
The book also discusses the archaeological work on the Rosetta Stone and Linear B. This work uncovered the meaning of the hieroglyphics and showed that the Minoans language was a form of Greek. The techniques were very much akin to deciphering code.
Also of interest is the Navajo code talkers who used their language as an unbreakable code during the war in the Pacific in World War II.
Recent developments and conjectures about future breakthroughs are discussed in the last few chapters. The book provides very useful information about other books and interesting web sites including one that allows you to download Zimmerman's Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) which provides RSA level security.
a pleasant reading suitable to all kind of public January 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book, well written, suitable to both curious reader and professional. It is suitable to the curious reader because all the explanations are very well written such that its not so hard to follow the flow of ideas. And it is suitable to the professional because the author gives an historical perspective of the use of codes and ciphers and the reasons of the improvements.
Finally but not less important, the write style make the short biographies and the histories a very enjoyable reading.
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