The Code Book Book Review

Codes are essential to the modern world. With so much information readily accessible via the internet, there is some information that we still need to keep under lock and key.

Or, as is actually the case, under password protection. You may not have thought about it, but one little password keeps all your emails safe, allows you to login and manage your online bank account, or perhaps access confidential financial information via an anonymous telephone banking system sitting half-way around the world from you.

So codes are more important than ever. And anything that is so central to humans is likely to evolve and get more sophisticated over time. This is certainly the case with codes.

Simon Singh takes us through the history of the various codes that have existed, and therefore combines historical settings and accounts with the details of how the various codes have worked.

Through looking at early, basic codes, to working through sophisticated additions to those codes and then going right through to current cryptographic techniques, public key encryption and even a discussion of how the quantum world could make codes that are unbreakable, this is a very interesting book. Yet it is very accessible and nothing is too hard or bewildering for a reader to get muddled by, so don't get put off if you think it is going to be full of maths: it isn't at all.

For those who like a challenge, there is even a series of codes to crack at the back of the book.

Overall a very enjoyable read and recommended reading.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Reviewer: dan moore