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The Code Book
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by Simon Singh
Sales Rank: 716358
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$5.75
At Amazon
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Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers August 12, 2003
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385730624
ISBN-13: 978-0385730624
Product Dimensions:
8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
Product Review
Calling upon accounts of political intrigue and tales of life and death, author Simon Singh tells history's most fascinating story of deception and cunning: the science of cryptography--the encoding and decoding of private information. Based on The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, this version has been abridged and slightly simplified for a younger audience. None of the appeal for curious problem-solving minds has been lost, though. From Julius Caesar to the 10th-century Arabs; from Mary Queen of Scots to "Alice and Bob"; from the Germans' Enigma machine to the Navajo code talkers in World War II, Singh traces the use of code to protect--and betray--secrecy. Moving right into the present, he describes how the Information Age has provided a whole new set of challenges for cryptographers. How private are your e-mail communications? How secure is sending your credit card information over the Internet? And how much secrecy will the government tolerate? Complex but highly accessible, The Code Book will make readers see the past--and the future--in a whole new light. (Ages 14 and older)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Simon Singh breaks down cryptic messages for the teenage set in The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It, an adaptation of his bestselling adult title The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptology. He covers actual instances of codebreaking, from its role in the plan to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Navajo code talkers of WWII.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Customer Reviews & Comments
This review is from: The Code Book: How to Make It, Break It, Hack It, Crack It (Hardcover)
The Code Book is a delightful treatment of the subject of cryptography. It is a nice combination of history, science, warfare and politics. The author uses interesting historical events as background to narrate the different phases of what might be called the mainstream developments of cryptography and cryptanalysis. It is a captivating presentation. The book started off with the story of Queen Mary of Scotland, and went on to cover the Caesar cipher, Vigenère cipher, the famous Enigma, the super-secret Colossus, and the modern day computer based encryption and decryption developments. The author also threw in a couple of interesting "sideline" stories, such as the Beale cipher, the Rosetta Stone, and the Navajo "code talkers" who played a key role in the Pacific theater during WWII. My teenage son used to complain that most of the difficult subjects he learned in school would never have any use in real life. I gave him a copy of this book. The book is a compelling story of how science, engineering, mathematics, computer, linguistics, psychology are all critical pieces of this all-important game. There are more technical treatises on this subject, and there are more lengthy and nuanced historical accounts on military intelligence as well. But this book is undoubtedly the best introduction to this uniquely fascinating subject.
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The Code Book
Available from Amazon
Price: $5.75
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