The Book of Codes

Author of the bestselling Fermat's Last Theorem , Simon Singh offers the first comprehensive history of cryptography, 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 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, there are clear technical and mathematical explanations, as well as portraits of the remarkable figures who wrote and broke the world's most difficult codes. Accessible, compelling, and remarkably comprehensive, 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.

Simon Singh then presents the history of the art of writing secrets since Ancient Egypt and also narrates the struggle between code creators and code breakers, beginning five hundred years before Christ and continuing until today, when cryptography is used on the Internet and in banking transactions.