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the code book
title: The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
author: Simon Singh
my interest in codes and ciphers stems from my desire to communicate and understand methods of communication. its one of the reasons why i love studying languages, especially languages whose alphabets are pictographic. for instance, one of my favorite japanese kanji is "arashi." it means "storm" and is composed of the pictograph for "wind" situated over the one for "mountain". the beauty is in the interpretation that a storm could be heralded by a strong wind coming down from a mountain.
codes and ciphers share in this beauty since they are communication puzzles that tweak my brain as much as the philology of words does.
the code book is a very readable introduction to the history of codemaking and breaking. its got an easy going style which makes some of the more difficult material easily accessible, which is perfect when you're trying to learn about the "caesar cipher" while straphanging on the train.
the book's early chapters are devoted to the history and use of simple codes and contain several examples that are easy to figure out. singh points out the strengths and weaknesses of each encryption method, setting us up for harder and harder cipers as the book progresses. after all, if the encoding method is too simple, it won't take long for the enemy to figure it out but if its incredibly long and complicated, it loses its practicality in time-sensitive communications, such as those on a battlefield. of special interest to me were the chapters on the world war ii codebreakers. singh's explanation (and the book's diagrams) of the "enigma" machine made it easy to understand how this machine could create incredibly difficult to break codes.
since it is a "popular science" book it is a little on the "light" side, but it still makes a wonderful primer for anyone interested in dipping a toe in this pond.comments on "the code book"
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