The Code Book is a history of encryption, from the simplest ciphers (Caesar shift) to public key cryptography. It moves step by step, explaining how each innovation addresses a weakness of the earlier system then showing how codebreakers found new patterns that enable them to decipher the more sophisticated cipher. It places all of this work in context through historical episodes where codes and ciphers played a central role, such as the trial of Mary Queen of Scots and the breaking of the Enigma during World War II.
The book has exactly the right balance between narrative, technical detail, and puzzles. It was fun to read about a new coding strategy that seemed impossible to break, then see how creative cryptanalysts manage to figure it out. There's a chapter about deciphering hieroglyphics and lost languages, which links cryptography to linguistics. I even love the size and weight of the book, the font, and the illustrations.
Entertaining and informative.
The book has exactly the right balance between narrative, technical detail, and puzzles. It was fun to read about a new coding strategy that seemed impossible to break, then see how creative cryptanalysts manage to figure it out. There's a chapter about deciphering hieroglyphics and lost languages, which links cryptography to linguistics. I even love the size and weight of the book, the font, and the illustrations.
Entertaining and informative.
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