The Hidden History of Code-Breaking
The Secret World of Cyphers, Uncrackable Codes, and Elusive Encryptions
Published on 1. August 2023
400 pages
978-1-63936-433-6 (ISBN)
Description
A fascinating exploration of the uncrackable codes and secret cyphers that helped win wars, spark revolutions and change the faces of nations.
There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy.
In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret ciphers, and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations.
Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.
There have been secret codes since before the Old Testament, and there were secret codes in the Old Testament, too. Almost as soon as writing was invented, so too were the devious means to hide messages and keep them under the wraps of secrecy.
In The Hidden History of Code Breaking, Sinclair McKay explores these uncrackable codes, secret ciphers, and hidden messages from across time to tell a new history of a secret world. From the temples of Ancient Greece to the court of Elizabeth I; from antique manuscripts whose codes might hold prophecies of doom to the modern realm of quantum mechanics, we will see how a few concealed words could help to win wars, spark revolutions and even change the faces of great nations.
Here is the complete guide to the hidden world of codebreaking, with opportunities for you to see if you could have cracked some of the trickiest puzzles and lip-chewing codes ever created.
More details
Person
Sinclair McKay is the author of The Hidden History of Code-Breaking among other books published in Britain. He is a literary critic for The Telegraph and The Spectator and lives in London.
