Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read, and very informative
Review: I had heard of this book on Slashdot, but I was unprepared for such a well-written, enticing story. I was drawn in from the beginning, and loved almost all of the book (the section on dead languages was a bit dry). I learned a lot about how cryptography works, and more importantly, what is wrong with other methods besides public key encryption.This is a great book. All my friends who have borrowed it loved it too.
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Summary: My students are eating this baby up
Review: I'm using this book as a text in a computer ethics class I teach at an area University. The students are eating this material up like it was candy. Singh's book is well-written and engaging (in a dry way), including enough technical detail to intrigue the computer science majors in my class and enough detail about the people involved to keep the non-technical majors interested as well. I personally find the last chapter on "Quantum computing" and "Quantum cryptography" to be less good than the other chapters, but overall, this book is really, really good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story
Review: The author does an outstanding job of explaining the history and various techniques of cryptography. The book covers different historical periods, describing the different types of codes and how they were eventually broken (and how history was changed as a result). The chapters I found most interesting dealt with the years from 1939 - present.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and rewarding
Review: Some sections are dry - or seem that way for a while, when in fact the author is giving you a great history on this history of codes and codebreaking. The perspective gained from the explanatory and often entertaining style makes this book worth the price. Whenever it seemed that I was tiring of the "historical" nature of a chapter, within a couple pages I was suddenly glad to have learned the facts and reasons behind the fascinating evolution of cryptography. A newcomer to modern cryptography, this is the first book that made clear the workings of public-key/private-key cryptography, and for me that alone was worth the price of the book.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read in a while
Review: This book is exactly what I was looking for. It's equal parts history, mystery and science. I read it in about two days, which is quite a rarity for me. On only two occasions did I need to reread a passage to understand the mathematics involved, which was quite an accomplishment for the author. I'm off to the bookstore to buy Singh's other book at lunch today, and if it's half as good as The Code Book I'll have it done by the end of the weekend. Buy the book.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and Informative!
Review: The Code Book by Simon Singh This is a fascinating journey through the history of cryptography and a book that every intelligent individual interested in the topic should read and have on the shelf for reference. It is for every person who has been curious or concerned about individual privacy and the security of transactions on the internet. Simon Singh tells the story of cryptography and how it influenced the outcome of history, with vivid examples. Had Mary Queen of Scots been aware that her "secret coded" letters had been actually deciphered and read by her jailers, she might have been spared the guillotine. From deciphering the Egyptian hieroglyphics with the aid of the Rosetta Stone, through cracking the German Enigma and the story of the Navajo Code Talkers and up to the use of sophisticated "unbreakable" encoding used in modern communications and over the internet, this is one fascinating story. Dr. Singh doesn't stop at telling interesting historical anecdotes. He actually explains and demonstrates what cryptography is with real examples of codes and ciphers and challenges the reader more than once to find the keys to such codes. Finally, Simon Singh leaps into the future when Quantum Computers will be able to break any existing code known today and concludes that: "A quantum computer would jeopardize the stability of the world. Whichever country gets there first will have the ability to monitor the communication of its citizens, read the minds of its commercial rivals and eavesdrop on the plans of its enemies. Although it is still in its infancy, quantum computing presents a potential threat to the individual, to international business and to global security." Whether you are fascinated by codes and cryptography or you are worried about your latest purchase online, this book will be of great interest to all.
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Summary: Cryptography revealed
Review: THE CODE BOOK is a beatuful overview of the history of cryptography. The book takes the reader from the simple ciphers of history (this is where Mary Queen of Scots comes in, but I thought that story was fairly far in the background), through the fairly radical improvements of the rennaisance, and truly shines in the discussion of the WWII Enigma machine and the truly amazing response of the English decoding aparatus. It appears that much material only recently became declassified, allowing Singh to discuss Enigma and the English code-breaking operation. Finally, Singh gets to the efforts to produce computer cryptography and the recent innovations that culminate in the "public key" encryption and the controversy over the PGP (pretty good privacy) program. This book was so exciting that I could not put it down. It is easy to read--no math in the text and plenty of appendicces with the formulas--yet reveals so much. On top of the beautiful exposition on cryptography, Singh also visits the public policy conflicts between national security and privacy. Not that those have any easy answers, but the conflict is very palpable.
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Summary: Top-notch book,grab a copy if you can
Review: The book traces the historyof ciphers;its origins ,evolution.Right from ancient times man has sought ways to conceal his confidential correspondence.This, author says ,gave birth to cryptology:the art of secret writing.So cryptology,unlike other branches of knowledge,has a rich past.Over the centuries it has passed through several stages.From manual ciphers of ancient times,progressing towards mechanical encryption during Industrial age and finally to electronic encryption with the dawn of computer era.First step in this direction was Steganography.Then evolved different forms of substitution ciphers.Substitution ciphers can be further classified into monoalphabetic and polyalphabetic ciphers.The author has given schematic representation of evolutionary structure of secret writing.At this juncture, I wish to add the development of cryptology predominantly hinged upon advances in the field of cryptanalysis.Cryptanalysis is the art of cracking ciphers.It reminds me of perpetual rivalry between ballistic experts and armour specialists.While former seeks to perfect projectiles capable of piercing thickest and strongest of all armour , latter tries to find ways to make armour impervious to penetration.This engendered the development of superior forms armour.Same too is the case with cryptology. Arab cryptanalysts , in the middle ages using frequency analysis ,were able to destroy the security of monoalphabetic cipher.This development led to cryptologists developing superior forms of encryption. Thus came polyalphabetic ciphers and homonyms.A reader of this book will find how successful penetration of ciphers had a profound impact on the course of history.Among incidents narrated - to mention a few -assassination of Mary queen of scots, Zimmermann Telegram ,cracking of Nazi Enigma ciphers by British cryptanalysts working at GCCS at Bletchley Park considerably shortend the duration of Second World War.There is a excellent account of German Enigma machine cipher.The operation of Enigma, given by other authors , has always bafled me.But after reading author's version I could understand its intricacies better.Few pages in the book have been devoted to how code breaking has enriched our knowledge of the past.Decipherment of Egyptian Hieroglyphics by French linguist Champollion and cracking of Minoan Linear B by Michael Ventris .In the concluding chapters of the book author has dwelt upon complexties of computer encryption especially how cryptologists were able to overcome 'key exchange problem . Each encryption has something called algorithm or key which specifies the meathod for encrypting the message.In electronic encipherment conventional ways of exchanging keys would have caused immense logistical problems.But thanks to enthusiasm and perseverance shown by a group of American engineers the problem was solved which again shows that human ingenuity knows no bounds.In our internet age encryption assumes prime importance as this could only ensure the safety of e-commerce transactions.Finally Mr Singh has prophesied the shape of things to come.Quantum cryptography which I found trifle difficult to understand.Author says quantum encryption is virtually impervious to hackers.So he ends the book in an optimistic note.Author deserves felicitations as he endeavoured to make abstruse subject as simple as possible.The book is a sheer delight to read .However reader wanting to draw more information on the subject must turn to David Kahn's monumental Code Breakers or his recently published voluminous tome History of Secret Writing.
Rating:
Summary: A great book
Review: Excellent and informative, kept my attention throughout, provides a thurough history and speculates toward the future in a very realistic manner.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: The author has a talent of making history interesting. Not only was I thoroughly enthralled by the evolution of the subject, but the historical background that accompanied each change interested me. This is a first rate book, you'll learn a lot as I did.
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