A history of cryptography from ancient Egypt through quantum computing. My favorite parts were about WWII, with Turing and the Navajo Codetalkers. Some parts were a touch slow - cryptography isn't nearly as thrilling as the activities associated with it - but by and large it was an informative read. My only real complaint was how long it took me to read. Though Singh's text was thorough and readable as ever, it took me nearly a month to finish. I think I just wasn't in the right mood for a math book. ( )

This is a totally gripping book which is extremely readable, easy to understand and a compelling historical account of codes and ciphers right from the times of Eliazbeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, right up to the present day with the internet and emerging technologies.

What I really like about this book is that Singh easily introduces codes and ciphers to you and you can sit and work out their translations yourself. it's the kind of book that makes you want to get pen and paper and make your own code or work out the ones in the book (I did!). You even get multiple pages at the end with codes for you to work out. Very fascinating.

The one downside to the book is that some of it does get a little technical and over my head (probably yours too) so I did a bit of page flipping towards the end (the quantum mechanics section just totally lost me). So you won't understand the entire book but about 98% of it instead (unless you're Einstein in which case you won't have any problems at all).

This is THE definitive book for codes and code breaking. I can't recommend this enough. ( )

A interesting history of cryptography. What especially singled this book out was the cryptographic competition and the money reward. I tried but some Swedes won the prize just one year after the book came out. ( )

Very different than my normal reading, but vastly interesting. I'm so glad that I branched out to read it and would highly recommend it from a scientific and historical standpoint. ( )

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Is-a good-a zing-a no one-a will-a be able to-a read-a zis-a. ( )

Ismét egy jó könyv Simon Singhtől, aki nagyon érdekes, mégis alaposan mutatja be ezúttal a kódfejtést történetét a kezdetektől a lehetséges jövőig.

Szívesen olvastam volna még az egyszerűbb módszerekről vagy a halott nyelvekről, de a szerző szándéka láthatóan az volt, hogy egyre összetettebb kódolási módokat mutat be, ugyanabból a típusból nem ismertet többfélét. Vagyis inkább tudományos, mint történeti munkáról van szó, ami így is nagyon szórakoztató.
Külön érdeme a könyvnek a Nagy feladat, amely a függelékben és a könyv honlapján is 10 egyre nehezedő probléma megoldására hívja ki az olvasókat. Bár a pénzdíjról már lemaradtam, azt 2000-ben szerezte meg egy csapat, mégis az egyszerűbbeket én magam is megoldottam fejben, illetve kis programot írva.

Még nagyobb öröm lett volna, ha a fordító a régiesen hangzó, mókás "kihüvelyez" igét nem használta volna minden második oldalon, különösen a könyv első felében. Egy idő után ez heveny arcrángást okoz.

A szerző szerintem annyira jó, hogy a többi könyvét is keresem, olvasom, honlapját is nézeget(t)em. ( )

An interesting analysis of codes and ciphers. Both their making and breaking are discussed and placed well into historical context. A well written book that makes lots of cryptography that would likely be impenetrable to the average person simple enough to understand (or at least I thought so). I highly recommend this book as my only complaint about it was that it hadn't been revised to talk about more recent systems like elliptical curve encryption. ( )

I always knew that math could be fun to read about ;) ( )

Excellent popular description of a complicated and exciting subject. More mathematical literature should be written in this easily written way. ( )

Much like how Mark Kurlansky makes a subject like salt interesting, Simon Singh makes all things code fascinating. From the very beginning The Code Book was informative and interesting. Peppered with photographs and diagrams, The Code Bookrecounted the events in history where the ability to break a code (or not) meant life or death. Beginning with Queen Mary of Scot's attempted plot to murder Queen Elizabeth on through the first and second World Wars. The only time I really got bogged down was, of course, when Singh would get a little too detailed with mathematical explanations of more difficult codes and ciphers. ( )

An excellent introduction to cryptography, its history and evolution. It may not delve as deeply into the subject of modern encryption as some formal textbooks and scholarly works, but this is to be expected. This is a book for the curious layperson, not the established mathematician / computer scientist.

Singh series of challenges is included, based on the approaches to cryptography detailed throughout the book. While I haven't attempted them (yet), they look to be an interesting opportunity to put theory into practice. ( )

Insightful and interesting account of code-breaking.: Mr Singh provides a fantastically interesting and informative account of code-breaking and encryption throughout the ages. A great read even for anyone not interested in the subject.

Un livre qui a parfaitement rempli ses fonctions : dans ma phase "Enigmes en tout genre", je voulais avoir une vue globale de la cryptographie et de la cryptanalyse, et ce livre est un rêve pour çà. Chaque période, représentée par une énigme pour les cryptographes ou les cryptanalystes, est vécu comme une histoire, ou les personnages qui ont réellement existé sont mis en scène avec beaucoup de talent, dû à la recherche complète de l'auteur. Un très bon moment. Seul bémol : la fin portant sur les ordinateurs ... le bouquin date de 10 ans, j'aurai aimé une mise à jour, même de 3 pages, sur les progrès faits pendant ce temps dans ce domaine. ( )

I like codes, secret writing, and cryptography. I don't have the mathematical chops to make a profession of it, but I remember the "lesson" in frequency analysis that makes up a lot of the plot of Poe's "The Gold Bug". Plus I fondly read one of the prolific Clifford Pickover's books on codes some years back and enjoyed it.

While there is analysis of types of codes and cryptography in Simon Singh's book, his strength and the main thrust of the book is the tension between code-makers and code-breakers, and the history of how those codes were used. From Mary Queen of Scots fateful use of a breakable code which lead to her death, through the German Enigma machine, to the battles over PGP today, Singh touches on the evolution of the science of secrecy through the stories of the people on both sides of the divide. The writing is clear and fluid, and the examples show that Singh understands his own subject very well.

If you have an interest in the history of cryptography or allied subjects, the Code Book is a very good primer on the subject. ( )

Runs out of steam as you get to the last couple of chapters (in my opinion), but the earlier stuff is great. ( )

Incredibly intelligent and easy to read book. Singh's style is fresh, and believe, you can read this book in a couple of days. And then read it again. ( )

This is a thoroughly accessible account of the history of cryptography. Its coverage of the evolution of ever more sophisticated pre-twentieth century ciphers is particularly clear. The chapter on hieroglyphics seemed a bit of a digression to me but no doubt others enjoy it. There's a long section on the decoding of the Enigma machine, which is a treat for those of us enamored with the romance of Bletchley Park. ( )

Singh, Simon. The Code Book. Doubleday, New York, 1999. Reading about Cryptography continues. This is an excellent book. I already knew many of the stories at a high level. However, The Code Book does two things exceptionally well: it explains the intrigue behind many developments in cryptography, and it explains how the codes and the cryptanalysis works. I particularly like the explainations of how Enigma was cracked. Singh not only explains who was involved in the effort, but how they cracked Enigma.

Very different than my normal reading, but vastly interesting. I'm so glad that I branched out to read it and would highly recommend it from a scientific and historical standpoint. ( )

hahahahahahaha - but then, this entire review is written in CODE ( )

An extremely well-written and thorough account of the history of cryptography right up to the present day. It combines readability with a level of technical analysis that is not senselessly dumbed down for the lay reader. A riveting book. ( )

One of my favorite, if not my favorite non-fiction book. An easily accessible, non-mathmatical these on coding. And for the historian in me, lots of information on the people involved. ( )

I actually don't own this book but borrowed it from jmservat a while back. It is a fascinating and readable introduction to cryptography. I actually could not put it down!
At the end of the book there is also some alledgedly very difficult code to break and the author is (was?) offering a reward for whom could crack it. ( )

A good book about the basics of cryptography. There were several things I liked about it. First of all the way it started of easy and moved forward to harder stuff. Then it was all the historical parts. The author was great at explaining his examples using simple analogies. ( )