Rating: 
Summary: What a great book!
Review: Fun to read and understand. Get it if you are interested in cool mind twisters.
Rating:
Summary: A great book
Review: This is a great and a classical work in the general interest of the computer science field. But I'm not agree with this:
Which americans are the cryptology founders? all are russian, german or british, people that USA took from his native countries promoting wars and inestability over the world. Those you call americans are inmigrants. Also "americans" are people who live in America, not only in the USA, the problem is: How can we call americans if they use the term America as a property of USA?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: A wonderful mix of History and Computer Science. In addition to being a great read, it clarified many encryption issues in my mind.
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Summary: Lucid, erudite and fascinating
Review: I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this, not only for its fascinating content, but also for the author's superb writing. Additionally, I am having a great time working solutions for the problems he sets at the end! I thoroughly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent Book
Review: Until now I was aware only of the codified worlds of Sherlock Holmes and his fellow clones in detective literature. Mr. Singh has made it plain enough for me that the universe of semiosis as well as the things that transpire between a sender and a receiver can be of unprecedented complexity. I read his book almost in one sitting and what a pleasure it was to read. Despite slight difficulties in following certain technical parts the book is really excellent in sheer scope, ideas and information. I am grateful to Mr Singh for proving that there are no dull subjects, only dull writers, and he certainly in not a dull one. Congratulations!
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Summary: BRILLIANT BOOK: Particularly good on quantum cryptography
Review: As a quantum cryptographer I was delighted to find so clear and accurate an exposition of my field. I may actually have to start using that chapter for my Doctorate students. The rest of the book, which I thought would interest me less, in fact was fascinating.
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Summary: Book is truly BRITISH...Where's the US side of the story?
Review: This book has some deficiencies, in that it truly only talks about the breaking of the ENIGMA cipher from the British perspective, and does not pay tribute the incredible work of the Americans during WW2.There are new books on the market, such as one by David Kohnen of The Mariners' Museum, which describe newly declassified US documentation about the breaking of the 4-rotor German Naval Enigma machine, which the British never really mastered. Singh takes the perspective, that without the Bletchly Park operation, the US would not have successfully broken the Enigma code, but that is just not entirely true. The more true statement would include that the British turned over vital information early in the war to the US, which assisted the US in creating faster and better BOMBE machines, and that the advances made by the US were then never matched by the British throughout the war. I would consider this book as telling only part of the story, and David Kahn's works on the subject as being much more authoritative on the historical perspectives anyway. For more truthful and factual information about the breaking of the 4-rotor Engima machine, Kohnen's "Winn and Knowles" (published by Enigma Press in Poland, 1999) publication is clearly a better choice.
Rating:
Summary: Very readable, lots of information
Review: This is a great book. I was not able to put it down until I finished. I did not know anything about Crptography before I stared this book. The way the author chronicles the history and the science behind cryptography is fascinating. I am soo impressed, I took the unusal step of rating!
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Summary: This is a disappointing book; one would have hoped for more
Review: The cover of the book is obviously designed to resemble "The Bible Code," and I suspect that people who like it are impressionable folk like the ones who bought "The Bible Code." Much more could have been done in a book about such an important and interesting topic. Perhaps in the U.K there is much interest in Mary, Queen of Scots. I would have liked to see deeper explanations of the theory of coding. The material on quantum cryptology was especially weak, I thought. Perhaps someone else will write something on this fascinating topic.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely enjoyable
Review: This book intertwines encription techniques through the ages with historical events that are related to the particular encription/decription technique. Each technique layers over the other and it makes this book not just technical but historical making for a very enjoyable read.
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