Author: Simon Singh
File Type: pdf
In his first book since the bestselling Fermats 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 worlds 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. This edition does not include illustrations.The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum CryptographyFrom the best-selling author of Fermats Last Theorem, The Code Book is a history of mans urge to uncover the secrets of codes, from Egyptian puzzles to modern day computer encryptions.As in Fermats Last Theorem, Simon Singh brings life to an anstonishing story of puzzles, codes, languages and riddles that reveals mans continual pursuit to disguise and uncover, and to work out the secret languages of others.Codes have influenced events throughout history, both in the stories of those who make them and those who break them. The betrayal of Mary Queen of Scots and the cracking of the enigma code that helped the Allies in World War II are major episodes in a continuing history of cryptography. In addition to stories of intrigue and warfare, Simon Singh also investigates other codes, the unravelling of genes and the rediscovery of ancient languages and most tantalisingly, the Beale ciphers, an unbroken code that could hold the key to a $20 million treasure. Its known as the science of secrecy. Cryptography the encoding and decoding of private information. And it is historys most fascinating story of intrigue and cunning. From Julius Caesar and his Caesar Cipher to the code used by Mary Queen of Scots and her conspiracy to the use of the Engima machine during the Second World War, Simon Singh follows the evolution of secret writing. Accessible, compelling, and timely, this international bestseller, now adapted for young people, is sure to make readers see the pastand the futurein a whole new way.Amazon.com ReviewCalling upon accounts of political intrigue and tales of life and death, author Simon Singh tells historys 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) From Publishers WeeklySimon 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.