The Code Book
The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography is a book written by Simon Singh and published in 1999 by Doubleday of New York; ISBN 0-385-49531-5
The Code Book covers a diverse set of historical topics including The Man in the Iron Mask, Arabic cryptography, Charles Babbage, the mechanisation of cryptography, the Enigma Machine, and the decipherment of Linear B and other ancient writing systems. Later sections cover the development of public key cryptography and some of this material is based on interviews with the participants, including those who worked in secret at GCHQ. The book concludes with a discussion of PGP, quantum computing, and quantum cryptography. The book announced a "Cipher Challenge" with a cash prize. The contest has since been completed . The book is not footnoted, but does have a "Further Reading" section at the end which is organized by chapter.
Criticism
The Code Book is said to contain errors of fact.
In 1999, Whitfield Diffie wrote:
- "The Code Book contains a plausible selection of material and for the reader new to cryptography it presents a welcoming, readable face. Unfortunately, this same reader will be misled at many turns. Singh has made a potentially worthwhile contribution to the popular literature of cryptography, but we can only hope that the publisher will limit the first edition to a single printing and produce a corrected second edition as quickly as possible."
In 2000, September 10, 1999, page 25.
