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The Code Book
- The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
- Narrated by: Patty Nieman
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
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The Code Book
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Publisher's Summary
In his first book since the best-selling Fermat's Enigma, Simon Singh offers the first sweeping history of encryption, tracing its evolution and revealing the dramatic effects codes have had on wars, nations, and individual lives. From Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code, to the Navajo Code Talkers who helped the Allies win World War II, to the incredible (and incredibly simple) logistical breakthrough that made internet commerce secure, The Code Book tells the story of the most powerful intellectual weapon ever known: secrecy.
Throughout the text are clear technical and mathematical explanations and portraits of the remarkable personalities who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably far-reaching, this book will forever alter your view of history and what drives it. It will also make you wonder how private that email you just sent really is.
What the critics say
"In a concise 10-and-a-half hours, this fascinating history of secret writing advances step-by-step from ancient hieroglyphics to the vastness of computerized encryption.... The narrative covers all the landmarks in the history of code breaking, the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots and the capture of the Enigma machine most prominent among them. But even the most devoted thriller fan will learn something new from each chapter." (AudioFile)