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Title: The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh ISBN: 0-385-49532-3 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.77 (197 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Cryptography revealed
Comment: THE CODE BOOK is a beatuful overview of the history of cryptography. The book takes the reader from the simple ciphers of history (this is where Mary Queen of Scots comes in, but I thought that story was fairly far in the background), through the fairly radical improvements of the rennaisance, and truly shines in the discussion of the WWII Enigma machine and the truly amazing response of the English decoding aparatus. It appears that much material only recently became declassified, allowing Singh to discuss Enigma and the English code-breaking operation. Finally, Singh gets to the efforts to produce computer cryptography and the recent innovations that culminate in the "public key" encryption and the controversy over the PGP (pretty good privacy) program. This book was so exciting that I could not put it down. It is easy to read--no math in the text and plenty of appendicces with the formulas--yet reveals so much. On top of the beautiful exposition on cryptography, Singh also visits the public policy conflicts between national security and privacy. Not that those have any easy answers, but the conflict is very palpable.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great read and a little more than just codes
Comment: Mr. Singh traces the history of cryptography from its recorded inception in roman times up through current applications. While all of the chapters held my interest it was Mr. Singh's work in chapters 4 through 6 that I feel deserve particular note.
Chapter 4 deals with the war effort at Bletchley Park and the work on the Engima machine. Here Mr.Singh adds an additional dimension by providing some insight into the work of Alan Turning, the development of Colossus, the first (now reported) electronic programmable computer and the unrecognized cryptanalysts who broke Ultra and the other codes of WWII. Chapter 6 brings us up to present day cryptographic issues from RSA and PGP to philosophical issues of personal privacy in modern society with web centric commerce and online book reviews. At each step in the process Singh successfully combines the elements of a technical treatise with a human values and features. For those wanting to go a little further under the hood and look at the processes and algorithms in some of the codes mentioned in the text, several appendices at the end of the book should fill that yearning. I found the book informative and enjoyable to read.
Rating: 5
Summary: GREG GOEBEL WAS RIGHT!
Comment: I was looking at this book based on the subject; but, Greg Goebel's review made me want to buy it. I've since read it. I could comment on all of the details of how great this book is but, Goebel said it first and correctly. If you're not sure you want to splurge the extra money, read his review and know it's the truth.
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Title: Fermat's Enigma : The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh ISBN: 0385493622 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 08 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Code Book for Young People : How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It by Simon Singh ISBN: 0385729138 Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 12 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Cryptanalysis by Helen F. Gaines ISBN: 0486200973 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing by Martin Gardner ISBN: 0486247619 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 October, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, Second Edition by Bruce Schneier ISBN: 0471117099 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 18 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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