Rating: 
Summary: Bummed Out
Review: I really enjoyed this book because it blended history and science in such a provacative way. Is this book better than _The Codebreakers_ by Kahn? Ah, about the same. Both have strengths. The Code Book tends to over emphasize the British contributions to coding/decoding in the 20'th century. We Americans did some good stuff too! The Puzzle Palace is also a good book, if you like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, never boring, ultimately a little light
Review: If you like to read about how secrets, the protection of and the finding out, have affected and altered the course of history, this is a fun book to read. If you're interested in a very good, enjoyable overview of the history of secrets, this is a good book. Ultimately, though, it's light. The history of cryptography is enormous, and a book this size can only summarize. If you're into the history, then The Codebreakers by David Kahn is the more definitive work. If you're more interested in the personal stories of people involved with code making or breaking, there are some excellent works, such as Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, which give you more detail of particular people or times. If you're interested in modern-day issues with computer security and encryption, Bruce Schneier has written two outstanding books, one for the programmer and one for the layman, detailing modern cryptographic techniques and security issues. And if you're interested in a gripping fictional work, they don't come better than The Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. That's not to take away from Singh's book at all. It's extremely enjoyable, and it was a perfect vacation read for me. If you're not seriously into cryptography the way I am, you might not find the above books interesting, but find Singh absolutely fascinating. Recommended to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Layman's View of Codes
Review: I just finished reading this book (it has been out for over a year, and I just now got to it). This is, by far, the best overview of code makers and code breakers. You get an historical and personal overview of this broad and secretive subject. Not only was this book informative, but I could not put it down. An addictive and pleasurable read.
Rating:
Summary: A brief history of secrets...
Review: An excellent introduction to the world of cryptography. It shows not only the methods cryptography but also the reasons why they were so important. Singh brings out the hidden history of cryptographers and the politics that have surrounded them. The first chapter with Mary, Queen of Scots demonstrates the power of cryptography to save or take lives. The book demonstrates the power of secrets and how cyphers have kept secrets beyond the lifetime of the cryptographers. The book is an easy to read history of cryptography from monoalphabetic cyphers to modern cyphers like PGP. It's an written in a style that accessible to people with little to background in cryptography. _The Code Book_ is an excellent tribute to the men and women who have contributed to the art of cryptography over the centuries, and the genius it has taken to make and break their cyphers.
Rating:
Summary: terrific book
Review: The book is absolutely brilliantly written. It has lots of real-life stories starting with a story of the Mary Queen of Scots who was beheaded for using too a weak cipher. Between those stories author explains actual ciphers starting from Julius Caesar's and methods to crack them in the terms understandable by a pedestrian. I tried to explain the simplest ones to my 7-year old and he's got them. Meantime, the appendix J contains concise and clear enough description of the strongest existing RSA algorithm, clear enough to reproduce it. Highly recommend for those interested in history, history of science, math, spy stories, history of computers - this book combines it all.
Rating:
Summary: Great stories of codebreaking
Review: Singh's book on a topic that many would find boring is actually a delight. Though a little part of the book is donated to how codes are broken and definition, the stories in the book are the true gems here. If you love history of any kind- pick this book up.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: Well done...makes the seemingly tedious practice of code making and code breaking interesting by weaving in historical accounts and (still) lost treasure. Includes a very intriguing chapter on translating ancient scripts and several code-braking challenges for the reader, ranging from easy to very difficult. Discusses the Enigma Machine, the Rosetta Stone, Linear B, and several other code-breaking classics (some remain unsolved!)
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic introduction to cryptography
Review: Fantastic introduction to science of cryptography and it's history. Goes into a lot of information about how various codes work, how they're broken, and so on. I only have a couple of criticisms of the book, namely that it leaves out some very important encryption systems. Very little is talked about the coding systems used by the US and the Allies, and by the Japanese, in WWII. The use of the Navaho language is extensively covered, but the more traditional systems are hardly mentioned. Also, there is virtually no mention at all about how modern symmetric cyphers, such as DES or the new AES (Rjindael). All in all though, a great read an a good introduction to the field and it's history.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a book that makes math interesting!
Review: The Code Book traces the evolution of secret messages from simple hidden messages to modern computer/mathematical cipher techniques. Using interesting historical examples of different cipher techniques, Singh explores not only the cipher techniques but also the people that developed them or succeeded in making contributions to breaking them. There are certainly some fascinating characters! The secretive nature of the work consigned them to the shadowy peripherals of history, undermining the importance of their work. The decipherment of Linear B was an incredible achievement and the success and importance of breaking Enigma can not be understated. Singh does a remarkable job at making such a complex topic relevant, interesting and fairly easy to understand. I definetly learned a lot reading this book and enjoyed myself thoroughly while doing so. Read it before buying your other books online!
Rating:
Summary: Sound, Entertaining, and Informative Introduction
Review: The fine popular science writer Simon Singh (author of _Fermat's Enigma_, about the proving of Fermat's Last "Theorem") has just put out _The Code Book_, a quick survey of the basics of cryptography from a historical perspective. Singh's book is an enjoyable and well-done overview of the basics of cryptography. He begins with a story about how Mary Queen of Scots was doomed because her crypto was bad, and continues up to the present day. He describes the 16th Century French Vigenere cipher, World War I cryptography, including the Zimmerman telegram, and lots of detail about Enigma. There is a fascinating side branch into the related issue of deciphering ancient languages. He does a good job describing the Rosetta Stone and the work in deciphering that, and a good job discussing Linear B. The concluding chapters discuss computer based cryptography, particularly the Data Encryption Standard, Public-key Cryptography, the RSA algorithm, and Pretty Good Privacy. I was a bit disappointed in the final chapter, on Quantum Cryptography, which didn't explain things as clearly as I would have liked. Their is also a set of ciphers in the back, and a contest for readers to try to decode them. Singh does a good job describing the characters involved, in the best tradition of popular science. And though I've known a bit about this subject for some time, he still taught me lots of new stuff. I was particularly surprised to learn that British researchers had invented both Public-key Cryptography and an equivalent to RSA several years before the more famous inventor, but that the British government had classified their work, denying the researchers credit for their discoveries. This is a sound, entertaining, and informative introduction to the basics of cryptography.
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