The Code Book: The Secrets Behind Codebreaking

simon singh

"As gripping as a good thriller." -- The Washington Post

Unpack the science of secrecy and discover the methods behind cryptography--the encoding and decoding of information--in this clear and easy-to-understand young adult adaptation of the national bestseller that's perfect for this age of WikiLeaks, the Sony hack, and other events that reveal the extent to which our technology is never quite as secure as we want to believe.

Coders and codebreakers alike will be fascinated by history's most mesmerizing stories of intrigue and cunning--from Julius Caesar and his Caeser cipher to the Allies' use of the Enigma machine to decode German messages during World War II.

Accessible, compelling, and timely, The Code Book is sure to make readers see the past--and the future--in a whole new way.

"Singh's power of explaining complex ideas is as dazzling as ever." -- The Guardian

Genres nonfictionsciencehistorymathematicscomputer sciencetechnologypopular sciencecomputersprogrammingmicrohistory

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1999

Literary awards

corine internationaler buchpreis,

This edition

Format: 272 pages, Paperback
Published: August 12, 2003 by Delacorte Press
ISBN: 9780385730624
ASIN: 0385730624
Language: English

Characters More characters

Alan Turing

A British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalisation of the...
Julius Caesar (roman Emperor)

Gaius Julius Caesar (/ˈsiːzər/, SEE-zər; Latin: [ˈɡaːiʊs ˈjuːliʊs ˈkae̯sar]; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his politic...

About the author

simon singh

Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner. He is the maiden winner of the Lilavati Award.

His written works include Fermat's Last Theorem (in the United States titled Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem), The Code Book (about cryptography and its history), Big Bang (about the Big Bang theory and the origins of the universe) and Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial (about complementary and alternative medicine).

He has also produced documentaries and works for television to accompany his books, is a trustee of NESTA, the National Museum of Science and Industry and co-founded the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme.