Reviews
I got hooked on this fascinating dive into the world of secret codes. Even better, the book lets you try cracking some yourself—I nailed the first one and immediately decided I was CIA material. LOL. That dream lasted a week. Now I can barely finish a crossword, let alone decode hidden treasures. (P.S. Wall Street Journal crosswords are pure evil.)
I have a romantic view of old-fashioned, analog cryptography (and stenography). Every time I read about it, I feel like a kid again, sitting in a treehouse with the neighboring kids who make up our small detective/spy club, encrypting messages we hoped someone would care to attempt to read. If I were born a decade or two earlier, I surely would have become a ham radio operator. Recommendations for spy novels that capture this childish feeling are appreciated. This book details the world history of cryptography, all the way from simple letter substitution (which was easily broken once scholars discovered frequency analysis) to the possibilities presented by future quantum computers (which would render all current cryptography broken, but make way for unbreakable encryption). This history is presented as the evolution of cryptography by codebreaking selection. The book pedagogically explains in layman’s terms how each major cipher used throughout history works, and how its ingenious creators considered them unbreakable. Inevitably, it was broken, through an equal spark of ingenuity, and the world moved its secret communiques to another cipher, thinking that this time they had found the one that was impossible to crack, and the cycle begins again – a mental arms race between mathematicians and logicians. Sprinkled through this historical timeline are extremely interesting stories and anecdotes. I was happy that Singh give the Polish researchers who broke Enigma’s encryption the credit they deserve (something The Imitation Game does not, the recent film about Alan Turing and Bletchley Park, which are also given ample discussion in the book). These stories read as thrilling, miniature, real-life spy novels in their own right, and I've checked out the "further reading" section on each of them. Singh also touches upon the inherent conflicts of interest between the public, who want to guard their data as securely as possible, and government agencies, who want to be able to break encryption to safeguard national security. As the book explains, in the early days of computer cryptography, this was easily achieved because governments had access to vast computing resources compared to the public. This book was written in 1999, however, and after its publication – and especially after 9/11 – one such agency in particular, the NSA, has become infamous in this regard. Indeed, just as I’m typing up this review (literally!), Apple has publicly announced that they defy an FBI order of building a backdoor into the iPhone. After reading this book, and its clairvoyant Chapter 7 (about the heralding of the Information Age, or the Infocalypse), it becomes quite clear why Apple felt the need to write this customer letter. A minor complaint: Singh admits he has left out some important stories and ciphers, which is inevitable, but I was disappointed that he presented a few ciphers considered unbreakable without explaining how they were eventually broken. An example of this is the ADFGVX cipher. I feel I now understand the string of ciphers that make up the evolution of cryptography through history, but although I understand there are some intentional holes in that understanding because of complete omissions, I feel slightly cheated because some of the holes were presented but never plugged by the book. All in all a fantastic and exhilerating book for anyone interesting in cryptography, communication, secrecy, war (both hot and cold), technology, history and everything between.
Amazing book. A profound, yet comprehensible history of cryptography for anyone remotely interested in codes and ciphers.
Beautiful insight into cryptography throughout history (up until 1999.). Much more interesting than I anticipated. The most beautiful part is foreshadowing bitcoin, which today stands strong on the grounds of breakthrough concepts explained throughout the second half of the book.
This book was an exceptional introduction to all things secrecy. It's light on technical details (but just definitely enough to wet the appetite). The author does a great job of crafting stories through history to keep you captivated. Secrecy has had a fascinating place in our development as a civilization. I also love when authors recommend further reading. Simon has done this and I can't wait to dig into some more books!
Great insight into the basics and even the more advanced ideas behind keeping privacy. The last chapter was enough to make my head spin. Will keep the book and re-read should I need any refresher on cryptography concepts.
fascinating look at cryptography through the ages. the clever, resourceful, and determined code breakers were inspiring
A book thay gives you a complete story of Cryptology and its future. Even though it's a old published book, it's actual for the technology we use nowadays. It's very interesting and complete, but you need to take your time to understand everything.
