Hiding secrets (i.e., cryptography or the science of encryption) has become an increasingly important topic in the modern Information Age. It’s not just the stuff of the military and diplomacy. We cannot communicate secrets like credit card numbers over the Internet without it. In this book, dated around the turn of the millennium, Singh shares the history of encrypting messages. He begins to forecast its impact in the twenty-first century while noting exciting trends in the directions of quantum computing and quantum cryptography.
Near the beginning of the Common Era, Julius Caesar famously used a “caesar cipher” to cloak his messages. Conceptually, it’s so easy to implement that my elementary-school-aged daughter learned about it. But soon, it became just as easy to break it. This war between code-makers and code-breakers has continued throughout history. Singh tells us of the major battles of this war in a lively and informative way. He provides both the historical setting and technical details behind these events.
Some of the most interesting stories surround the events of the twentieth century’s world wars. Singh tells each of these stories, with particular depth surrounding the British efforts. Alan Turing and others from England’s eclectic Bletchley Park are described in detail. Described in just as exciting of a manner are modern mathematical efforts around digital encryption. RSA and DES encryption are meticulously explored. Obviously, efforts in the new millennium, in which the Internet has tremendously grown in importance, are not described because of the publication date. Nonetheless, the general trajectory of the field can be ascertained by this historical dive.
Indeed, history conveys ideas with extreme accuracy, so this book introduces readers to the field in an accessible way. Anyone looking to learn about cryptography from real-world methods can gain from this treatment. It does not enter into mathematical minutiae and leaves that to other introductions. Instead, as a history, it deals with pragmatics by an approach that non-mathematicians can appreciate. Singh has adapted this text into a later version that is directed to interested young people. Together, either of these books will orient curious readers about this increasingly important field.
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
By Simon Singh
Copyright (c) 1999
Doubleday
ISBN13 9780385495325
Page Count: 402
Genre: Cryptography, History
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