The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It [Paperback]

Simon Singh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 2003

It’s known as the science of secrecy. Cryptography: the encoding and decoding of private information. And it is history’s most fascinating story of intrigue and cunning. From Julius Caesar and his Caesar Cipher to the code used by Mary Queen of Scots and her conspiracy to the use of the Engima machine during the Second World War, Simon Singh follows the evolution of secret writing.

Accessible, compelling, and timely, this international bestseller, now adapted for young people, is sure to make readers see the past—and the future—in a whole new way.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Calling upon accounts of political intrigue and tales of life and death, author Simon Singh tells history's most fascinating story of deception and cunning: the science of cryptography--the encoding and decoding of private information. Based on The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, this version has been abridged and slightly simplified for a younger audience. None of the appeal for curious problem-solving minds has been lost, though. From Julius Caesar to the 10th-century Arabs; from Mary Queen of Scots to "Alice and Bob"; from the Germans' Enigma machine to the Navajo code talkers in World War II, Singh traces the use of code to protect--and betray--secrecy. Moving right into the present, he describes how the Information Age has provided a whole new set of challenges for cryptographers. How private are your e-mail communications? How secure is sending your credit card information over the Internet? And how much secrecy will the government tolerate? Complex but highly accessible, The Code Book will make readers see the past--and the future--in a whole new light. (Ages 14 and older) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Simon Singh breaks down cryptic messages for the teenage set in The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It, an adaptation of his bestselling adult title The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptology. He covers actual instances of codebreaking, from its role in the plan to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Navajo code talkers of WWII. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press (August 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385730624
• ISBN-13: 978-0385730624
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,119,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Singh is an author, science journalist and TV producer. Having completed his PhD at Cambridge he worked from 1991 to 1997 at the BBC producing Tomorrow's World and co-directing the BAFTA award-winning documentary Fermat's Last Theorem for the Horizon series. In 1997, he published Fermat's Last Theorem, which was a best-seller in Britain and translated into 22 languages.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, June 28, 2002

By 

Redmund K. Sum (Los Altos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It (Hardcover)

The Code Book is a delightful treatment of the subject of cryptography. It is a nice combination of history, science, warfare and politics.

The author uses interesting historical events as background to narrate the different phases of what might be called the mainstream developments of cryptography and cryptanalysis. It is a captivating presentation.

The book started off with the story of Queen Mary of Scotland, and went on to cover the Caesar cipher, Vigenère cipher, the famous Enigma, the super-secret Colossus, and the modern day computer based encryption and decryption developments. The author also threw in a couple of interesting "sideline" stories, such as the Beale cipher, the Rosetta Stone, and the Navajo "code talkers" who played a key role in the Pacific theater during WWII.

My teenage son used to complain that most of the difficult subjects he learned in school would never have any use in real life. I gave him a copy of this book. The book is a compelling story of how science, engineering, mathematics, computer, linguistics, psychology are all critical pieces of this all-important game.

There are more technical treatises on this subject, and there are more lengthy and nuanced historical accounts on military intelligence as well. But this book is undoubtedly the best introduction to this uniquely fascinating subject.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating. Started me on my cryptologic studies., October 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It (Hardcover)

Reading this book gave me my start in my self study of cryptography, its science and its history. While I will not pretend to be anywhere near an expert on the subject, I found this book very insightful. It is an easy read, and not tedious in any way. It is meant as a "science for non-scientists" type book, and more of a history than anything else. (I have only managed to solve the first two cryptologic challenges at the end of this book, but am diligently working on the rest in my spare time.)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reveals the science of cryptography, October 8, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It (Paperback)

Intended for an audience of young adults, Simon Singh's The Code Book will appeal to many an adult reader as it reveals the science of cryptography - the encoding and decoding of private information. The history spans centuries and ranges from an early Enigma machine to email communications and Internet privacy. The Code Book is recommended as an intriguing and informative survey.