Cryptorunes: Codes and Secret Writing
by Clifford A. Pickover
Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

This book is for thinkers of all ages who want to enter new mental worlds, stretch their intellect and imagination, and solve fascinating mysteries. Its one hundred language puzzles are rendered in an assortment of runicalphabets--some in the traditional Norse runes used as long ago as the first century A.D., and many in unique and beautiful new runic characters. Some puzzles are simple, others very difficult, and their encrypted messages swing from silly to curious to profound.But Cryptorunes is much more than a book of puzzles. You'll also find knowledgeable and highly engaging notes on runic alphabets and the ancient cultures from which they arose; a brief, brilliant history of cryptography; guidelines for creating and solving many kinds of codes; and a wildly imaginative (but disturbingly plausible) story about the first extraterrestrial message to reach Earth. Just before the chapter giving answers to the puzzles, a Clues section offers a little assistance to those who are almost able to solve a given cryptogram.