The Code Book for Young People

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Summary: I Am 16/f and I loved this book!
Review: HI! aLRIGHT, LET ME GIVE IT STRAIGHT HAHA I read this book and I found it INTERESTING, witty,(he kinda winks at you..and there are some humorous parts...well, of course not in the slapstick "HAHAHA!" way, but u'll see) challenging (Mr. Singh does not treat us like little babies..the vocabulary is SAT-worthy :p...) -and I didn't know much at all about codes. Mr. singh takes you through everything he wants to show you clearly and adding spice- the historical part is NOT boring...it WOuld be boring without it, actually! He intertwines anecdotes and events in history (i.e. starting from the very beginning, WWI and WWII, the beheading of Mary Queen of Scotts, to the present day) with the use of codes (i.e.-Enigma machine, monoalphabetic substituion cipher -> each letter in the alphabet is represented by a symbol)...This book is cozy (reading it on a dark rainy night...awooooo....), it's really like a novel- It's like you delve into it and it pulls you in...I admit there are some parts that are slightly "technical" but TRUST me, as I said before, he explains it so that even someone who is not math-oriented can follow along. At the end of this book I REally felt smarter and more confident...(p.s.-I even cracked the first two codes- using my brain/pencil/paper/knowledge I gained from the book...he gives at the end of the book under "Reader's Challenge"- I haven;t cracked the last two) Don;t be Intimidated! I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries,has ever been intrigued by codes/detectives, history, math, and creative people (I am an English person...and this is NOT a boring book in my opinion.)oooh..plus u can have fun w/a friend encoding secret messages ;]

hellz yeah 5 STARs *****

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Summary: Reveals the science of cryptography
Review: Intended for an audience of young adults, Simon Singh's The Code Book will appeal to many an adult reader as it reveals the science of cryptography - the encoding and decoding of private information. The history spans centuries and ranges from an early Enigma machine to email communications and Internet privacy. The Code Book is recommended as an intriguing and informative survey.