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The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography Paperback – August 29, 2000

by Simon Singh (Author)

437 customer reviews

in Computer Cryptography

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In his first book since the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.

Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make yo wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

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Product Details

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (August 29, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385495323
ISBN-13: 978-0385495325
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (437 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Security & Encryption > Cryptography
- #2 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Linguistics
- #21 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

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Customer Reviews

437

4.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		79%
4 star		17%
3 star		3%
2 star		1%
1 star		0%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

188 of 195 people found the following review helpful

Neatly illustrates the impact of encryption on history

By Jason Massey on November 2, 1999

Format: Hardcover

Before Singh's "Code Book" came on the scene, the only other book I knew about is Kahn's "Codebreakers". I don't have the time to read such a large text as Kahn's book, so I was very pleased when this book became available.
Singh has done a very nice job of demonstrating how deep an impact cryptography has on history. He opens the book by recounting Mary Queen of Scots' conspiracy to have Queen Elizabeth murdered and how she attempted to use encryption to cloak her intentions. It was a very exciting way to open the book.
Singh has found the right combination of technical detail, historical detail, and character development.
Singh's explanation of how the German WWII Enigma functioned is exceptional. He made it very easy (and fun) to understand.
Singh's last chapter is also very neat on the subject of quantum cryptography. Though I have a BS in computer science, I'm no physics genius and Singh did a nice job of making (what I consider) difficult physics concepts easy to understand and of showing how they can be applied to modern cryptography.
Although I don't know a thing about "Fermat's last theorem", I've been so pleased with Singh's writing style that I'm considering reading that book also just to see what it is all about.
If you like codes/ciphers and want to read about their impact on history without reading a thousand pages then get this book. You'll be happy you did.

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91 of 94 people found the following review helpful

A great read and a little more than just codes

By Tony Jh on December 12, 1999

Format: Hardcover

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.

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73 of 75 people found the following review helpful

Enjoyable, never boring, ultimately a little light

By Michael A. Alderete on November 17, 2000

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

If you like to read about how secrets, the protection of and the finding out, have affected and altered the course of history, this is a fun book to read. If you're interested in a very good, enjoyable overview of the history of secrets, this is a good book.
Ultimately, though, it's light. The history of cryptography is enormous, and a book this size can only summarize. If you're into the history, then The Codebreakers by David Kahn is the more definitive work.
If you're more interested in the personal stories of people involved with code making or breaking, there are some excellent works, such as Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, which give you more detail of particular people or times.
If you're interested in modern-day issues with computer security and encryption, Bruce Schneier has written two outstanding books, one for the programmer and one for the layman, detailing modern cryptographic techniques and security issues.
And if you're interested in a gripping fictional work, they don't come better than The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.
That's not to take away from Singh's book at all. It's extremely enjoyable, and it was a perfect vacation read for me. If you're not seriously into cryptography the way I am, you might not find the above books interesting, but find Singh absolutely fascinating. Recommended to anyone.

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61 of 65 people found the following review helpful

Compelling material wrapped in interesting stories

By Douglas Welzel on March 29, 2000

Format: Hardcover

It took me a while to finding to the time to read this because I was expecting a rather dry book on cryptography. The subject was somewhat interesting to me, but I didn't feel like plodding through a long book on the subject.
Once I started reading I realized The Code Book was totally different. Singh takes you on a tour of the history of cryptography through the history of the world. You will find that cryptography was an unexpected key element in several historical events.
Through the entire history, Singh's writing is exceptionally clear and easy to follow. The material in the book is accessible to all levels of reader -- even those with no knowledge of cryptography.

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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful

Smoothly flowing, lots of anecdotes and personalities

By A Customer on September 25, 1999

Format: Hardcover

Not really in any substantive sense a history of cryptography, this book gives one very much the same feeling as if watching a well done television documentary. This is not particularly surprising, as the author works on programs such as PBS' "Nova" in his day job. This makes the book an easy and pleasant read, but it chooses its focus rather oddly, often emphasizing persons and events out of all logical proportion to their real historical significance. In fairness, the author does concede that he is not attempting to write a history of cryptography, as that has already been done comprehensively by others, especially David Kahn ("The Codebreakers," recently reprinted). While Americans are given inappropriately little attention until the chapter on public-key cryptography -- I think William F. Friedman is mentioned once in passing, and Herbert O. Yardley perhaps twice -- the selection of subject matter is a refreshing change from the usual stories that are rehashed over and over in most books on cryptography. It is particularly nice to see the British WWII cryptanalytic efforts at Bletchley Park being given their due, since Bletchley's people such as Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers have had to suffer from their work being kept secret until several years after Kahn's and most of the other principal histories had been written. The acknowledgement of the early Polish effort with German Enigma which made the British effort possible is also comparatively rare, again mostly because of the secrecy which until recently surrounded the matter, but it is likewise long overdue.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Interesting and engaging stories about code writing and breaking with just the right amount of technical details.

Published 1 month ago by G. Leach

Five Stars

Great background on the subject. Will give you a wide variety and examples. Love the book, well written

Published 1 month ago by Jonathan

Great read.

Very cool book. A great, easy read for so technical a subject as cryptography.

Published 1 month ago by Michael Pitt

It's a really good comprehensive book into the field of cryptography...

It's a really good comprehensive book into the field of cryptography if you're looking for an entertaining and enlightening read on the historic and methodology in codebreaking I... Read more

Published 1 month ago by NewArtist

Great book - very historical and somewhat technical for a ...

Great book - very historical and somewhat technical for a lay reader but I already knew what the book contained through various previous readings and research…so no new information... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Michelle Morning

Excellent!

Outstanding book by an excellent author. First comprehensible explanationI've found for both the Enigma and the Bombes and how the codes were broken during WW2.

Published 1 month ago by JT

Best book on codes...fun, eady read.

Wonderful history of codes with lots of examples. Really a fun read, but bring your paper and pencil and mhave fun
Also, please read more Simon Singh
He is brilliant in... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer

Ok. Not very technical at about the 50% mark ...

Ok. Not very technical at about the 50% mark. Was expecting more. More of a history book with some very simple technical aspects. A little disappointing.

Published 1 month ago by John P. Mann

Great book

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in the history of cryptography and code. I bought this to get some background on the subject while taking a crypto course online... Read more

Published 2 months ago by cjp2yf

The Code Book is a well written description of the ...

The Code Book is a well written description of the history of cryptography leading you from the earliest forms of ciphers all the way to the latest ideas in quantum computing and... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Ching-Yen Godwin

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