Customer Reviews

Cryptanalysis: A Study of Ciphers and Their Solution

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I bought this book after becoming interested in cryptanalysis from reading The Code Book By Simon Singh. Wow! This book is chock full of information considering its age. Not only does it give great analyses of classical ciphers, it has loads of useful information about various languages in the appendix. This data is indispensable when trying to crack a cipher. Loads of solved exercises complete a very enjoyable book that will suck many hours of your time if you're interested in cryptography at all.

As a former codebreaker with the ASA/NSA during the VN war, I often found it helpful to have a copy of Helen's book handy, and spent many enjoyable hours solving the sample ciphers provided. This valuable book not only describes many historically significant encipherment methods, but also goes into detail about how to break them. Afficianados of manual ciphers might also wish to contact others with similar interests and can do so through the American Cryptogram Association at www.cryptogram.org.

Simply the best manual for learning basic cryptanalysis of classical ciphers. Very easy on required math knowledge (unlike many of more recent books!) If you really want to learn a working knowledge of ciphers and cryptanalysis this is the book!

When Helen Gaines wrote this book in 1939 (and, by the way, she titled it "Elementary Cryptanalysis", not just "Cryptanalysis", it was by far the best unclassified introduction to cryptology written in English (perhaps even in any language). It is still an admirable book for anyone who wants to start learning cryptology without help; the large number of carefully worked examples and exercises make it excellent for "do it yourself." And for those who intend to make a serious study of modern cryptology, this book is still a useful assist, in the same sense that a vivid and comprehensive memory of high school algebra helps a lot when one tries to learn calculus and differential equations.

However, crytology in 2001 is as different from cryptology in 1939 as a Virginia-class submarine is from a pre-WW II sub. So, if it were me, I would start learning from Alan Konheim's book, using Gaines' book as a supplementary text for clarification and examples. Konheim's book requires one to know or learn a certain amount of math that Gaines doesn't require, but since about 1960 it has become very hard to grasp (let alone use) modern crytographic methods without at least as much math as Konheim uses, so one might just as well bite the bullet and learn it.

I bought this book over 40 years ago... It is, by far, the best book for pen-and-pencil cryptogram solving that I have found. It gives sufficient information to allow attacking any pen-and-pencil cryptogram. If it is followed by Bauer's "Decrypted Secrets," one would have a very thorough introduction to methods of solutions (Bauer is quite mathematical, but also recommended to the mathematically inclined). An excellent introduction with a great deal of useful information that is probably the best available source for pre-computer techniques.

This appears to be a reprint of the little book by the same title that utterly consumed me, probably for hundreds of hours, in the 1970's. It was old then, and looks even older now. And yet, pushing letters around on a page is timeless. It's laughably low-tech and yet, utterly modern, all at the same time. Some of the tricks and techniques described are so profound and clever, they are reminiscent of calculus in how they demonstrate the power of the well-applied human mind. This book can be an absorbing hobby all by itself. Plus when I found a coded note written by some girls in my junior high school, I was able to read it...

This Dover reprint is an excellent treatment of classic cryptographic and cryptanalytic techniques. Cyphering techniques from Caesar to World War I, including both transposition and substitution ciphers, are well covered, as are the classical cryptanalysis techniques for breaking them. You will not find any discussion of comtemporary digital ciphering or computer-based cryptanalysis, but the work, although dated, is an excellent introduction to the fundamentals of both cipher making and breaking.

A great way to get started in classical cryptology. If you want to go further and learn something about cryptology today, I'd suggest Applied Cryptology by Bruce Schneier, rather than the Konheim book, which is really heavy duty mathematics.

I don't remember where I got this from, but it it really excellent. It covers various common classical cryptographic techniques such as transposition, simple substitution, polyalphabetical substitution techniques (Vigenere, etc.), and many other kinds of ciphers, together with practical methods on cracking and solving them.

The only drawback is that this book tends to concentrate on solving specific ciphers, and only in the last chapter makes a bit of mention of what to do when confronted with a cipher message that you know nothing about. But despite that, it's definitely worth getting. And it's [inexpensive]!

Serious stuff, not for the week!
Basic (and classic) stuff is covered throughly and systematically. Book is tough to read and if you are not really interested you will put it back after the 5th page. But if you are a geek like me and like puzzles or if you are into cryptography, this is "book one" in your arsenal.
Warning for black hatters... this is not useful to break modern, computer based codes. It is a "fundamentals" book