Title: The Code Book
Subtitle: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
First published: 1999
Description: In his first book since the bestselling *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) logisitical 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 e-mail you just sent really is.
Subjects: Cryptography, History, Data encryption (Computer science), Coding theory, Confidential communications, Ciphers, Codes, Cryptographie, Histoire, Geschichte, Kryptologie, Chiffrement (Informatique), Geheimschrift, Long Now Manual for Civilization, Angewandte Mathematik, Dechiffrierung, Enigma (Chiffriermaschine), Chiffrierung, Einführung, Communications, Cipher and telegraph codes, Code names, Décodeur, Informatique quantique, Confidentialité, Communication humaine, Écriture chiffrée, 20e s., Écriture secrète, Origines, Cryptography--history, Data encryption (computer science)--history, Z103 .s56 1999, 652/.8/09