In discussing codes he goes into history and discusses various codes used historically until one reaches Enigma and realises why it was so prized as to have British intelligence and government risk loss of many lives rather than allow the enemy to suspect that they had in fact cracked it or obtained a key, a variation of each having happened during the war.
Then there is the part about Elizabeth I obtaining incontrovertible proof of Mary, Queen of Scots involving herself in plots to murder her and subsequently the ordering of execution of the latter of necessity, unlike the popular misconceptions about the reasons.
A must read for anyone even remotely interested in any topic touching - whether practical application today or historical significance or simply an intellectual challenge. ”
These are some of the books I read during last half a century or so, and some of the thoughts, questions, reactions and insights, emotions - and so forth -, evoked on reading them, either then or later sometime during the interim years and decades, or even thinking over now, that are summed up here while trying to record my impressions about what I read.
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography; by Simon Singh.
It is rare one comes across a book of this calibre written for lay readers, so very informative and so good in its level of intelligence that borders on testing.