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The Code Book : The Secret History of Codes and Code-Breaking Paperback – January 1, 2000
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- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarpercollins Pub Ltd
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2000
- Dimensions5.08 x 0.98 x 7.8 inches
- ISBN-101857028899
- ISBN-13978-1857028898
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Product details
- Publisher : Harpercollins Pub Ltd; (Reissue) edition (January 1, 2000)
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1857028899
- ISBN-13 : 978-1857028898
- Item Weight : 10.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.08 x 0.98 x 7.8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #300 in Web Encryption
- #92,694 in Reference (Books)
- #98,985 in Business & Money (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Simon Singh is a 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. He is the author of Fermat's Last Theorem, which was a no 1 bestseller in Britain and translated into 22 languages. In 1999, he wrote The Code Book which was also an international bestseller and the basis for the Channel 4 series The Science of Secrecy.
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Don't buy this title too. The subtitle is different, but other than being lesser quality paper, it is the same inside. That being said, the book appears to be quite good and delivers a lot of material and insight. I am just miffed because I got tricked into buying the same book twice.
This book gives much appreciated context to the array of cryptographic techniques and frames them in a captivating narrative. It highlights the tremendous lengths and difficulties people went through to develop the techniques that we today take for granted; the latter is particularly satesfying for a student feeling overwhelmed by some of the course material.
Over all, this book motivated me in my studies of both cryptography and math. Highly recommended.
What's great is that encryption still hasn't moved on much since the book was written so it is still very relevant. The discussion about quantum computers and quantum encryption is great introduction to stuff that is becoming a reality today.
Very good book but for kindle its just frustrating.
Update:
Sometime this year (january 2012), this book received an unpdate, now you can actually see the illustrations on your kindle, since I dont own the paperback (and havent even read the whole book) I cant actually say if it has all of them, anyway now you can enjoy it enough to start reading it.
I gave it 1 more star because of the update, but it is messed up that it took them so long to publish it.
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I am not expert in this subject, why is why I read the book, but as far as I can see it gives an excellent overview. The only possible caveat is that dates of recent advances tend to be in the late 1990s, so it may be that further major developments have occurred after it was published. But since the end point is quantum computing that does not seem likely.
Simon Singh has explained a difficult subject with admirable clarity.

'The Code Book' is equally well written and equally enjoyable and covers the history of code making and code breaking from ancient Egypt up until the budding development of quantum cryptography.
Simon Singh handles the material in an extremely readable way whilst the introduction of Alice, Bob and Eve (Eve is determined to read the secret messages being exchanged between Alice and Bob) adds a delightful touch to the story. He also deals in some length with the ground-breaking wartime work at Bletchley and with the subsequent development of the first genuine electronic computer (well before the Americans).
As I read the book I was also reading, in bed and on my Kindle, Sinclair McKay's intriguing and insightful book The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The History of the Wartime Codebreaking Centre . The two books complement each other beautifully and I found Simon McKay's insight into the life at Bletchley was of enormous value in fleshing out Simon Singh's story. The earlier book by Ronald Lewin Ultra Goes to War is a useful but much earlier reference work.
The final section in 'The Code Book' deals with the possibility of developing a quantum-based computer. This has recently taken a step forward and a Google search will quickly take you to a Canadian company's website who are apparently in a position to supply you with a development system. The only possible problem (forgetting the undisclosed cost) is that the superconducting 128 qubit processor chip is housed inside a cryogenic system within a 10 m² shielded room...
Read and enjoy 'The Code Book'. It's a fascinating story.
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Update, December 7th 2012
I've just received a copy of Simon Singh's 'The Cracking Codebook' but, unfortunately, it's nothing more than a virtually identical (less the chapter on quantum computing) copy of 'The Code Book'.
Don't be taken in - even though second hand copies of 'The Cracking Codebook' will cost you the princely sum of £0.01 plus postage...

There are a selection of coded messages at the back for you to try out your new code-cracking skills if you like.