The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms: Over 600 Mystery Codes to Be Cracked! [Paperback]

Elonka Dunin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (April 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786717262
• ISBN-13: 978-0786717262
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elonka Dunin is Executive Producer and General Manager of Online Community at Simutronics Corporation, and a founding member of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games SIG. Her company, Simutronics, was founded in 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri, and is a leading developer of online multiplayer games. One of the Simutronics games, GemStone, is the longest-running such game in the world, with a history that goes back over twenty years.

Born in Los Angeles, Elonka studied Astronomy at UCLA, and then joined the United States Air Force. She was stationed at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom, and Beale Air Force Base in California, where she worked on the SR-71 and U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Along with her other achievements, Elonka is a world-traveler who speaks several languages, and has visited scores of countries around the world. She has visited every continent including Antarctica, which she traveled to in 1999. Her lifelong interest in cryptography became public when in 2000 she was awarded a prize for being the first person to crack the PhreakNIC Code, an up-until-Elonka unsolved puzzle created by the hacker group se2600. Since September 11th, Elonka has been helping out with the war on terrorism by teaching government agents about cryptography and what types of codes that Al Qaeda may be using. She is also one of the leaders of a group of cryptographers who are working hard to crack a code on the famous Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters, and led the international team that cracked the related KGB Cyrillic Projector Cipher in 2003. Elonka is also an avid Wikipedian, having written or expanded over 250 articles on Wikipedia. And as a public speaker, Elonka regularly gives talks on her favorite subjects: Games, Wikipedia, and cryptography.

See http://www.elonka.com for more info!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars full of errors, June 23, 2009

By 

Michael Goos "Goose" (Sault Ste. Marie, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms: Over 600 Mystery Codes to Be Cracked! (Paperback)

Bought this for a gift and all I hear about are the errors throughout the book. Would not recommend.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly executed, July 8, 2010

By 

Serious reader "Lee" (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms: Over 600 Mystery Codes to Be Cracked! (Paperback)

Not only are the cryptograms unedited, but the paper is poor--very thin and my pencil scratched holes. The puzzles are either too easy, too hard, or poorly edited. Too bad. I love cryptograms and have done zillions. Longing for a good, new book with good paper, letters and lines properly spaced, and fun quotes. I'll keep looking. Can't recommend this.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Why equals Why, December 7, 2009

By 

Harry Menke - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms: Over 600 Mystery Codes to Be Cracked! (Paperback)

If you don't mind the same letters equaling the same letters, it's interesting. However "Y" may equal "y" in one quote, and in the next quote "m" might equal "m". It's very confusing & not well edited.