The Code E book: The Science of Secrecy from Historic Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
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In his first e book because the bestselling Fermat’s Enigma, Simon Singh gives the primary sweeping historical past of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic results codes have had on wars, nations, and particular person lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her personal code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World Struggle II, to the unimaginable (and extremely easy) logisitical breakthrough that made Web commerce safe, The Code E book tells the story of probably the most highly effective mental weapon ever identified: secrecy.
All through the textual content are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the exceptional personalities who wrote and broke the world’s most tough codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this e book will eternally alter your view of historical past and what drives it. It would additionally make you surprise how personal that e-mail you simply despatched actually is.
Writer : Classic; Reprint version (August 29, 2000)
Language : English
Paperback : 432 pages
ISBN-10 : 0385495323
ISBN-13 : 978-0385495325
Lexile measure : 1310L
Merchandise Weight : 2.31 kilos
Dimensions : 5.15 x 0.88 x 7.98 inches
Clients say
Clients discover the e book partaking, riveting, and a pleasure to learn. They respect the good narrative on the historical past of cryptography. Readers additionally point out the story is attention-grabbing and contains anecdotes from historical past.
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11 reviews for The Code E book: The Science of Secrecy from Historic Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
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Original price was: $19.00.$11.94Current price is: $11.94.
Hellza Kummin –
Fun book!
Full of history! Good read!
Phigg –
Fascinating read
My old boss used to keep a copy of this lying around in the office (think, “throne room”), and I eventually read the whole thing. It was a well written, fascinating and well paced read of the history and technology of cryptography.That was years ago.I recently decided to buy my own copy and give a re-read.
frogman –
The Code Book–Masterpiece of Historical Significance & Present Secure Communications Quandaries.
From describing very descriptive ancient codes to the fascinating world of quantum computing this author touches on it all with very well illustrated examples to help clarify a very difficult and highly complex subject of cryptanalysis— with its modern employment of linguists, mathematicians, and computer engineers. It’s an ongoing quest to keep our PRIVACY from intrusions of all sources such as governments, business competitors, or prying eyes. There are many privacy issues that both governments and private citizens alike must face in today’s technological world. These questions are posed and answered in many ways within the book. One caveat—recalling what our esteemed Statesman Benjamin Franklin once expressed—“Any one who will trade freedom for security deserves neither” The quandary is how government protects its citizens from acts of terror or how citizens may be protected by a tyrannical government–read this bookSimon Singh has produced a manuscript that not only gives one a deeper insight into the world of cryptanalysis from a historical prospective but also the men and women involved in this complex field of science through out the ages,—-the brilliant people from various and varied walks of life who have contributed immensely to this science past and present . It covers the humanist aspect from those involved with their various idiosyncrasies of behavior from the selling of data to foreign powers as well as personal behavior that could cause one to be blackmailed by enemies. This book is a can of worms in many respects since it opens up to the reader a world fraught with possible invasion of privacy -one of the most fundamental rights we should all hold dear–especially in America–and what avenues we have at our disposal to solve these dilemmas.The writing style Simon uses to explain the complex theories and problems that code breakers or code makers must use is exemplary and easily understood for the average layman–although he helps to have some advanced understanding of the sciences —but it is not necessary in comprehending what the author conveys in this book.I found the Appendix in the rear especially helpful in my study of the very basic science of cryptanalysis as well as his simple examples on how it all pieces together to form the whole picture.Even though this book was written in 1999— for those of us who are concerned about CURRENT EVENTS in this science the last chapter offers deeper insights and may be used as a springboard to investigate further developments of cryptanalysis and how we may apply it to our everyday life of sending emails, buying merchandize or researching various subjects. While the wide world of the internet has opened our vast horizons to knowledge and communications within a multitude of domains —rest assure there is an army of cryptanalyst struggling to keep our messages and correspondence secure daily—or at least we HOPE THERE IS–or we may involve ourselves with political action to ensure our freedom of privacy?
Metallurgist –
Entertaining and enlightening
This is a very well written and entertaining book that covers codes from the earliest ones to quantum computer codes. I liked the balance between historical information and some details about how codes and ciphers are created and broken. The book is written for a general audience, but also contains a lot of somewhat technical information, but is not so mathematical as to be inaccessible for most readers. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in codes, ciphers and some of the privacy issues that are entailed with the use and decryption of them.What is in the book âThe book goes beyond many others in the area of codes and ciphers in that it discusses very up to date topics (at least up to 1999 when the book was written), such as the ciphers being used for Internet transactions and questions of privacy and code breaking. The book also covers material on the deciphering of hieroglyphics and Linear-B, which are not covered in other books on codes. I found the sections on the techniques used to decipher messages enciphered with a Vigenére table and the algorithms employed by the DES and RSA systems to be very clear and enlightening. The book contains information on the Enigma machine and the work at Bletchley Park in Britain to decipher the messages sent on it. However, this material is not as detailed as the material in books such as Budainskyâs âBattle of Witsâ, Kahnâs âSeizing the Enigmaâ or Sebag-Montefioreâs âThe Battle for the Codeâ, so if this is your primary interest I would direct you to these sources. However, if your interest is more general then I think that âThe Code Bookâ is an excellent choice.
Jake –
Interesting and Captivating
Originally got this book as it was a required reading for one of my linguistic courses. However, I eventually found myself reading this book purely for leisure as the storytelling and content is extremely interesting and captivating even for someone not particularly familiar with the content at first.
Ryan –
A Great Way To Start Digging Into Cryptography
I’ve been developing an interest in physics as well as cryptography. I was turned on to Singh’s The Code Book simply because it mentioned quantum physics in the title, a happy intersection between my two new hobby subjects. Soon after cracking it open, I realized that I’d picked up one of my favorite books in the past few years.Singh does a great job of laying out the history of cryptography (code writing) and cryptanalysis (code breaking, essentially) as well as explaining the logic behind each of the codes he discusses. It’s a fascinating history that builds and builds upon itself, making it clear to the reader how the cryptography readily available to him/her now was born. All the while, Singh’s explanation of the thought behind the codes is clear enough for a non-math major to quickly grasp (i.e. myself).I admit that the subject matter was right up my alley and this might not be the case for everyone, but I feel Singh’s ability to weave a narrative into a convoluted subject (as it would be) is excellent and warrants a pick up. The history is sturdy enough to support just about any reader and the analysis of the logic is clear and simple to latch on to, even as it delves into some deeper details.In all, this was a great read and I’d highly recommend picking it up.
Gerardo Tonatiuh Primo Rodriguez –
Me gusto mucho! Soy fanático de los enigmas y con este libro exploré una historia secreta que no sabÃa.
Martin O’Reilly –
A thorough and very readable history of code making and breaking. Really worth the read.
Anders –
The history of secret messaging is excellent. However in the last part of the book its not upto date and considering the book was written 1999 it surely needs rewriting. 25 years is a very long time in cryptography.The printing of the book was also in some areas rather poor, missing text on pages. As seen on the picture.I liked the book and the writer is sometimes funny and very informative. Just wishing printing quality would be better and updated to 2024!
Arun Paramekanti –
Simon Singh has written a brilliant account of the development of codes and cryptography, from the history of Mary Queen of Scots, to WWII, to RSA, and to the very edge of quantum computing. Singh keeps it accessible, except for the later bits on RSA and quantum computing which need a bit more math/physics to really follow, but he gives nice analogies which atleast makes the reader feel like they understand something of these. Along the way, we also learn of important historical events and people, and some fun mysteries. Overall, an excellent read for 15+.
Unai Estebanez Sevilla –
Me ha encantado la perspectiva que da sobre el mundo de la criptografÃa. Explica conceptos complejos en una forma muy sencilla.Si bien es verdad que no es un libro académico y no te puedes esperar el grandes análisis en profundidad.