The Code Book
The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Published on 26. January 2011
432 pages
978-0-307-78784-2 (ISBN)
Description
In his first book since the bestselling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logisitical breakthrough that made Internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.
Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.
Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations, and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is.
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Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2000
Anchor Books
€19.00
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Simon Singh
The Code Book
The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, to Queen of Scots to Quantum Crytography
Book
09/1999
Doubleday Books
€42.96
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Person
Simon Singh received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. A former BBC producer, he directed an award-winning documentary film on Fermat's Last Theorem that aired on PBS's "Nova" series, and wrote the bestselling book Fermat's Enigma. He lives in London, England.
Content
- Intro
- About the Author
- Other Books by This Author
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 The Cipher of Mary Queen of Scots
- 2 Le Chiffre Indéchiffrable
- 3 The Mechanization of Secrecy
- 4 Cracking the Enigma
- 5 The Language Barrier
- 6 Alice and Bob Go Public
- 7 Pretty Good Privacy
- 8 A Quantum Leap into the Future
- The Cipher Challenge
- Appendices
- Glossary
- Acknowledgments
- Further Reading
- Picture credits
