And if it does at times get dry, he weaves it back together with stories of famous cryptographers and codebreakers throughout history, such as Mary Queen of Scots, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, and even Edgar Alan Poe! I would have loved to read more about some of the historical figures he covers, but helpfully there are additional reading suggestions at the end.įurther in the book, Singh also explores the ethical implications of cryptography, delving into the debate between privacy and security and discussing the role cryptography has played in protecting civil liberties. What I loved about Singh’s book is his ability to make multiple complex concepts fairly accessible to a general audience. Drawing on a wealth of historical anecdotes and technical explanations, Singh skillfully explores the relationship between codes and ciphers, and the personalities that created them, broke them, and shaped them again. Singh dives deep as he takes readers on a captivating journey through the evolution of cryptography. They have decided the outcomes of battles and led to the deaths of kings and queens.” This topic is far more important to history than many people are aware of and this is the driving force behind his decision to write about it. As he says early in his intro, “History is punctuated with codes. The book covers the evolution of codes and ciphers, from the ancient Greek scytale to modern-day public key encryption, and everything in between. “The Code Book” by Simon Singh is a fascinating journey through the history of cryptography, the science of secret communication. As long as there has been communication, there have been efforts to keep communication secret.

The code book by simon singh