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Book Review, © Copyright 2001, Jim Loy
There are quite a few fascinating histories of codemaking and codebreaking. Almost every book about encryption and/or decryption (even computer books) must follow the evolution of the subject from Caesar to the present, as an introduction to the subject. The classic (referred to by all other such books) is The Codebreakers by David Kahn. Other great books are The Code Book (containing a $15,000 Cipher Challenge) by Simon Singh, Code Breaking by Rudolf Kippenhahn, and Codes, Ciphers, and Other Cryptic and Clandestine Communication by Fred B. Wrixon. All of these books tell a few of the stories (such as the death of Mary Queen of Scots, The Beale Cipher, the Polish attack on the German Enigma machine, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Navajo Code Talkers (see Navajo Weapon - by S. McClain), DES, PGP, etc.) in surprising (and very interesting) detail.
Note: The Code Book Cipher Challenge was solved on Oct. 5 (the deadline for one of the prizes was Oct. 1), 2000. Read about it at The Cipher Challenge Home Page.
To order any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the title below (goes directly to this book):