The code book : the science of secrecy from ancient Egypt to quantum cryptography : Singh, Simon, author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (original) (raw)

Includes index

Cipher of Mary Queen of Scots -- Le Chiffre indechiffrable -- Mechanization of secrecy -- Cracking the enigma -- Language barrier -- Alice and Bob go public -- Pretty good privacy -- Quantum leap into the future

"In his first book since the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy

"Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is"--Publisher's description

Includes bibliographical references and index

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Reviewer: AleksandrHovhannisyan -favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - October 1, 2022
Subject: A captivating and informative read

I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did!
This was an excellent, approachable introduction to cryptography. I loved Singh's writing style and storytelling; even though I'm not a history buff, I found the historical anecdotes fascinating (especially the chapter on the Enigma), and I walked away having learned a lot.
I recommend supplementing the book with other online resources if you want to explore some of the topics in depth (like for the chapter on the Enigma machine, the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, RSA, and quantum key distribution). I slowly read this book over the course of a few months and even put some of the things I learned into practice (like using GPG key pairs to sign digital content).
Don't be dismayed by the fact that the book is a little old; it still covers many important and relevant topics.