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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945 Paperback – September 12, 2000

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Leo Marks (Author)
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4.4 out of 5 stars 209 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 624 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (September 12, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 068486780X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0684867809
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.7 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsMaking codes in WWI
By Richard S. Sullivan on June 8, 2000
Format: Hardcover
First off I need to say that this was a fun read. The book was entertaining and informative. The author, Leo Marks, then in his early twenties, writes about his experiences as head of the British code section for the group who devised, sent and received, and translated codes for the men and women who went into Nazi occupied Western Europe to spy.
Marks, a man who is now nearly 80, should be commended for putting down this rare piece of history in writing, as most of the records of the London code group have long since been destroyed, his memory is all we have.
Ok, now this is a strange book. There is no doubt that is was written by Marks himself as no ghost writer could have concocted such a weirdly written text. It's annoying at first but one soon becomes used to it. For example, when describing a briefing he gave to a somewhat hostile audience:
"Mounting a mile long platform an inch at a time, I confronted a large Nubian with crossed arms, which turned out to be a blackboard. He had colored chalk chalks on his person where lesser men had testicles, and I wrote my messages on his chest in block capitals which were twice their normal size as I had half my normal confidence."
We have smiles parachuting from his eyes to his lips; he remembers the excitement and thrill of using the same loo that Churchill used; he remembers and recalls the figures (nothing to do with coding) of many of the women who he writes about. (He is a man of the 40's!) There is a gem on nearly every page. No ghost writer could ever concoct this menagerie.
We do learn a lot about the coding business, especially in making the codes. We learn about the men and women who volunteered to spy, organize, and become part of the Resistance.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsSomething new among the WWII babble
By Jon Richfield on March 11, 2004
Format: Paperback
First I must say this: if you have any interest in the interaction between, on the one hand, people willing to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs and their country, and on the other, office-political self-interest, read this book if you can. As an eye-opener, it bitterly counter-echoes Macaulay's "None were for the party, all were for the state." Irrespective of anybody's opinion, adverse or otherwise, read it if you want unusual material on several subjects, including Giske's masterful exploitation of his penetration of the WWII Dutch resistance. Read it also if you simply are interested in cryptology, the history of cryptology or the development of cryptology (or of cryptologists). Read it if you want a vivid portrayal of the fog of war as seen from the back room, the frustration, the obsession, the pressures, the fear and the grief. Prepare yourself to control your blood pressure if you have views (from EITHER perspective) on the subject of boffin versus boss. The book is a primary and secondary document of great interest.
"Between silk and cyanide" includes plenty of humour of all shades, mainly dark, but don't read it for fun unless you are totally insensitive; it deals with harrowing events in harrowing times and I found it very upsetting on several levels. It would be wasteful to read it in a hurry just because you are a fast reader. This is a labyrinth of a book and there are many mazes of twisty little passages, all alike, that you very likely will miss if you are not careful. Heaven knows how many I myself skated over in my innocence.
This is a large book, but that is not why it is not to be read at a sitting. Nor is the reason that it is hard to read; I had to stop repeatedly to rest and to digest (or recover from) the situations and implications described.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsVagueness may not be his fault.
By Dilip Balamore on June 20, 2005
Format: Paperback
Virtually everyone agrees that this is a brilliant book, but its particular attractiveness to me was in its idiosyncratic style. The author seems to have remained a schoolboy all his life (lucky man!) He cannot resist making a joke, if even the slightest of oportunities arises, and this appears, at first, to disrupt the straight-forward narrative. It takes some effort to get into his world, and to recognize his varieties of humour; to recognize also how he often laughs becasue he quite deperately wants to cry. Once one gets into his rhythm, however, it is his distinctive style that lingers and fascinates.

Actually, I did not want to write all this at all! Others have described the manifold virtues of the book, and done so better than I ever shall. I just wanted to answer one particular criticism of the book. Several reviewers have said that the cryptography, at the heart of the book, is not clearly enough presented, and that things have been glossed over.They say that they could not learn the techniques well enough to actually use. This is quite true, but Marks may not be the one to blame. Apparently, he wrote the book 10 years before it was published. Its publication had been blocked, I am given to believe, by the pleadings under the Official Secrets Act;various changes had to be made in order to make it eventually publishable. I am convinced that this is the proximate cause of the 'glossing over". He almost says so in a couple of places in the book.
Clearly, some of his 60-years old techniques are still worth keeping secret, even in this age in which comnputers dominate crytography.

Let me say, in passing, that I was in tears on reading his account of his 'final-briefing' of the most remarkable woman of them all: Violette Szabo. He too seems to have sensed her specialness,because he gave her his most special poem for her personal poem-code. I urge everyone to read Carve Her Name With Pride, and also her other biography.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

A fascinating, gripping read written by the Leo Marks' biggest fan, Leo Marks.

Published 6 hours ago by Stig Pedersen
5.0 out of 5 starsWell Worth the Money

There are many very erudite reviews of this book so I am going to give one that is more personal. I bought the book to fulfill my requirement to continue getting the Folio... Read more

Published 22 hours ago by Jerry B Schutz
5.0 out of 5 starsAn important story, told with great wit and love

Leo Marks made it possible for hundreds of agents behind German lines to survive. Just a teenager, he was recruited to make codes for protecting the agents' shortwave messages to... Read more

Published 4 days ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

500 pages togo

Published 1 month ago by paul m roth
4.0 out of 5 starsCode-making During WWII

Excellent peek into the intricacies of code-making and coders.

Published 2 months ago by Gerard
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is one of the best if not the best WWII book on spycraft told ...

This is one of the best if not the best WWII book on spycraft told by a master. The story of training and dropping agents into occupied Europe and trying to combat the double... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Quietman
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

As non-fiction goes, a real page turner.

Published 3 months ago by Andrew Jahn
5.0 out of 5 starsFunny, wise and instructive

Read a library copy and then bought my own. Funny, wise and instructive.

Published 3 months ago by democrat
5.0 out of 5 starsMy all-time favorite "spy book"

My all-time favorite "spy book"; just finished reading it a second time. Glad to now have it in Kindle! Read more

Published 4 months ago by Amazonette
4.0 out of 5 starsWorth Reading

A great story, well written, and some very good incites into the WWII intrigues. There's great humor and also the sadness of the reality of WW II. Read more

Published 4 months ago by M. Pfaelzer

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