Singh, Simon - The Code Book

(subtitle: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography)

Er, this book is precisely on what the subtitle says. Singh basically takes the reader through the development of codes and ciphers throughout history, stopping to observe particularly historic moments for cryptography, along with going behind the people who made the major breakthroughs.

(An as-you-know-Bob: Codes encrypt by replacing entire words or phrases by other words or phrases while ciphers encrypt via letter substitution.)

I usually read non-fiction very, very slowly (think months), but I went through this book very quickly. Singh's prose isn't remarkable, but it is extremely clear without being dull, and he has a real gift for explaining things not only so I understand them, but so that I also get why the ideas or breakthroughs were really cool and exciting. While this may sound like damning with faint praise, I think it really is a very difficult thing to do, to write in prose so clear that the reader doesn't notice it and still manage to convey both ideas and emotion. I only wish more non-fiction writers could do this (Feynman was also really, really good at this. Plus, Feynman was funny). Singh also manages to relate the history of cryptography so that it feels like a story; there's dramatic tension and everything, which made the book not-so-ideal before-bed reading (I kept doing the "Just one more chapter.... just one more..." thing).

I'm not sure what my favorite parts were, because they were all pretty fascinating. Some highlights were the discussion of the importance of cryptography and cryptanalysts during World War II, and of course, the famous breaking of the Enigma cypher, which made me very geekily happy. Singh goes into how the Enigma machine worked and the various strategies different people used to try and crack it, and well, it was riveting! I swear, it was. The other part that made me very, very geekily happy was the decipherment of Linear B, an ancient language found on Crete, and when I was reading it, I just wanted to squee and wave my hands and yelp "Wow, that's SO COOL!" But then, I very much like puzzles and crosswords and the processes of figuring things out.

And Singh even manages to explain quantum cryptography (really odd stuff) in a way that I can sort of grasp -- I figure he is simplifying a great deal, so very mathy people (i.e. yhlee and fannishly) may be sort of annoyed by how he glosses over things, but it was quite illuminating for a layperson.

Anyhow, this was a really fun read, and now I want to pick up Singh's Fermat's Enigma. I like these mathy sciencey things, but usually the authors lose me because I have basically zero background, so it was nice to find something that I could sort of get and get excited about as well!

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- furyofvissarion's review

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Yay! I feel human again! The congestion has largely cleared, and while I'm still coughing a bit, I have most of my energy back and feel like I have time to think about things that don't include how miserable I am feeling.

However, my stomach hurts. I can't tell if this is because a) it is trying to tell me I need to eat more, b) it is trying to tell me I ate too much, c) I really need to stop feeding it milk product, d) I skipped some meals in the past and it's only now getting around to complaining about it or e) none of the above. I wish my stomach came with a manual. That would be handy.

Now that I have some energy, the apartment looks slightly more presentable, thankfully. It was getting messy to the point where I was getting annoyed, which is saying quite a bit.

Turns out my laptop's CMOS battery needs to be replaced AND the hard drive is damaged. Great. Let me just say that this is the fourth time the hard drive has been damaged. Wargh. I think I shall simply give up on this laptop, as it obviously is not cooperating with me. Recover data, convert server into new main computer by buying DVD drive, LCD screen and sundry other stuff, and set assorted stuff up. Sigh. This will not be fun and cuts into saved up money for other nice things. On the plus side, it means there will be more space on the walls for another skinny CD/DVD bookshelf! Muhahahaha.

One can never have enough storage.