Rating: 
Summary: Jabba resembled a giant tadpole, he was a hairless spheroid.
Review: I have read many of the other reviews for this book, and in none have I seen the humor that the Author places in his books mentioned. This is the second book of Dan Brown's that I have read and everything I enjoy about his writing was present in this work and was even more in evidence in his second "Angels And Demons".It is true this book does not have the same energy level for the first third of the story. I had less of problem with this, as I know little about cryptography. It may seem incongruous to read about Caesar in the midst of a tale of the NSA, but I found it interesting as well as the type of detail that adds credibility to the book because of the level of research. In addition once the pace quickens the Author maintains it to the end. Too many of the books I read seem to hurry to a conclusion. It's almost as if the Authors after years of work and dozens of drafts just want to be finished. Dan Brown keeps the tension high, and does so with credibility, not some contrived nonsense that just drags the reader along with false partial endings. The book only suffers by comparison when you read "Angels And Demons" first as I did. But Authors that fail on their second attempt are far more numerous than those who not only maintain the level of their work, but also take the whole reading experience a step up. This failing is called "the sophomore jinx". This Author does not suffer from that malady, and with his next work not only will the "third time be a charm", rather I think it will be the next in a series that will get ever more intricate and clever. There were those who felt the ultimate ending was simple, and while I do agree the final solution was not "Fermat's Enigma", I think being disappointed in the ending is wrong. It is true the very final answer is simple, the answers to many great enigmas are, but the series of partial solutions that allow steps toward the final answer when considered as a whole are anything but simple. There are a number of Authors who nailed the best-seller lists their first time out. I read about their recent books, and more often than not the loyal readers become more and more disappointed as new books are written. They express the frustration that the books become a formula. To date Dan Brown has not done this. I believe his books will continue to gain the recognition they deserve, and his admirers will continue to be pleased many many books into the future.
Rating: 
Summary: This is one awesome book
Review: I have read Digital Fortress two times. I have read many books similar to Digital Fortress such as: Tom Clancy's Net Force and George Orwell's 1984. None of which are as exciting or thrilling as Digital Fortress. Dan Brown should write many more books of this genre and I look forward to reading his latest book, Angels & Demons.
Rating: 
Summary: readable but deeply flawed
Review: As far as action books go, this book works but only on a superficial level. The setting is great and the topic is fascinating but his characters are more than wooden they are also "all" unlikeable. Just about every character in his book lacks the ability to carry on a persuasive discussion. At just about every turn in the book when a character has to explain a critical event, that character is usually at a loss for words, thinking about something else or hushed up by a superior. With the character unable to explain the critcal event something bad happens or something good doesnt happen. The author uses this tension building formula so much thru out his book it turns just about all his characters into idiots that we end up not even caring about. And believe me, I am not talking two or three times in the book, I am talking two or three times for "EACH CHARACTER" in the book. And these character are supposed to be smart?
Rating:
Summary: Simple Cryptography
Review: Digital Fortress is a techno-thriller light on the techno; it could have been beefed up at the expense of the elaborate, drawn out plot line, for which you must suspend disbelief many times. The last part of the book is exasperatingly drawn out: I was shouting the "answer" pages before the conclusion. I wondered if the NSA cryptographers weren't, in fact, a bit dense (unlikely, of course). Still, the book is never less than engaging and always fun to read, and while the layman's approach may cry out for detail, you won't need a computer science degree to understand it. Digital Fortress--episodic, filled with chases, and simple enough to scare the masses--would make a good movie; maybe Hollywood is reading. (Please cast Gillian Anderson as the female lead.)
Rating:
Summary: Obvious,superficial, taste like wine stored in tetrapack box
Review: Really an upsetting book. The flip's notes claims it isinspired to very well informed and updated intelligence and encryptionsources, but you won't find nothing much more than what G.Banford wrote in his excellent "The Puzzle Palace" (1982). The book even contains evident mistakes about the origin of the internet (clearly, the auhtor did'nt read another great book - Where The Wizard Stay Up To Late). The characters are quite obviuos: the heroin (as the book say, the firs swimsuit model, doctor in mathematics), the bad guy (a nuclear radiation addicted Japanese scientist who betrayed the bold ones). the psychology analisys is almost absent throughout the book. The style is nothing special (even for a foreign reader like me) compared to other novelist (i.e. M.Chricton's Jurassic Park, A.Dershowitz's' The advocate's devil. No comment about the role choosed by author for the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), who appear like an annoying fly who buzz all around.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, realistic,intriguing thriller
Review: I saw Dan Brown at Exeter, and got to meet him after the speech. His book was inspired by a student arrested at Exeter after sending E-Mail to his friend about how much he hated Clinton. The government intercepted the E-Mail, and inspired the author to come up with the idea for a story about the NSA. Good Read!
Rating:
Summary: Very good, gripping, hard to put down
Review: This book was amazing, and so gripping on-the-edge-of-your-seat that it was hard to stop reading it. Excellent read
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully wrighten thriller.
Review: I thought that it was a compelling mistery of sorts that I could not put down.
Rating: 
Summary: A good techno-thriller, but some technical flaws
Review: As an avid fan of Cryptography, I read this book cover to cover on a boring day. The plot isn't too bad, however, the author confuses programs for algorithms as well as confusing public key algorithms with symmetric key algorithms. I can forgive these, but what gets to me is a major point in the book. It appeared that TRANSLTR "broke codes" by brute force and finding patterns in the ciphertext. This would appear that it was designed for finding plain*text* and not executables. Even if the plaintext was an executable, who would be stupid enough run executable code from anyone? Also, it appeared to me that the decrypt included source code (which they analyzed at the end) which would make the whole thing make less sense because it'd have to be compiled. One would think they'd analyze the source code thoroughly before running anything on TRANSLTR. My last concern was over the "Gauntlent". "Gauntlent" would need the plaintext of the binary (or source code) to analyze before it could know anything about the payload (because any encryption algorithm worth anything will produce a random output). If one needs the plaintext that only TRANSLTR can find, how could it prevent anything it didn't know the contents of!? Despite the technical flaws, it was a good book. I liked the ending too.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent techno-thriller, thoroughly satisfying
Review: For someone was loves techno-thrillers, this one will not disappoint. A true page turner with an interwoven story line that keeps your attention all the way to the end. The only disappointment was the "ultimate" riddle at the end. Brown tied together a lot of things together with the riddle, but it was too obvious and was drawn out entirely too long. The chief code-breaker's IQ started at out 170 and went down as the story progressed. The book was able to weave a story around cryptography however, someone who has studied the subject will be able to point out obvious stretches.
| 
