The Code Book

Technology

First published: 1999
Print length: 402 pagesDoubleday, 1999

Description

Simon Singh traces the long contest between people who conceal messages and those determined to expose them. Moving from ancient Egyptian writing and Arabic cryptography to mechanized codebreaking, the Enigma machine, and secure internet commerce, he explains how codes and ciphers have altered wars, nations, and individual lives. Portraits of influential creators and breakers keep the technical history connected to human motives, while accessible explanations show why each innovation provoked a new method of attack. Later chapters follow the development of public-key cryptography and consider PGP, quantum computing, and quantum cryptography. The book presents secrecy as a continuing intellectual arms race, linking puzzles from the ancient world to the mathematical systems on which modern privacy and communication depend.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Direct · Journalistic · Technical

Pace

Moderate

Tone

Cerebral · Earnest · Suspenseful

Structure

Chronological nonfiction

Focus

Ideas · Information

Emotional intensity

2 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

FreedomKnowledge and truthPowerTechnology and societyWar

About Simon Singh

Simon Singh is a British popular science author with a background in theoretical and particle physics. His books make demanding scientific and mathematical subjects accessible by combining explanation with historical narrative, research synthesis, and the stories of the people who developed or contested important ideas. Fermat’s Last Theorem follows a centuries-long mathematical problem, while The Code Book places the mechanics of cryptography within its changing political and technological uses. In Big Bang, Singh reconstructs how a theory of the universe emerged through argument and accumulating evidence. This interest in how knowledge is established also shapes Trick or Treatment?, co-written with Edzard Ernst, which applies the standards of controlled research to claims for alternative medicine. His range is broad but his method is consistent: he gives technical ideas a human and historical setting without losing sight of evidence. The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets shows a lighter version of the same approach, using jokes and details from television as routes into mathematical concepts.

Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets Apple Books

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Doubleday
Language: English
ISBN: 9780385495318

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