Customer Reviews

Code Breaking

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not sure why a previous review written by me on this book showed only one star, but that is an error. This is a 4-star book. Here is my previous review:

Mr. Kippenham has written a thoroughly enjoyable book! I've read a great many books on Cryptology, and while his book won't make you an expert, it gives descriptions and explanations superior to many other "beginner texts". In fact, the explanation of the mathematics involved in RSA encryption is the most lucid and easy to understand that I have yet read. Much of the book is a rehash of some other good crypto books like "Decrypted Secrets" and Beutelspacher's "Cryptology", but at least Kippenham puts it all together in an easy to understand style. For a more comprehensive history while still an enjoyable read, try Simon Singh's "The Code Book", the book that started me on my expensive journey of "collecting" crypto books, and if you're still interested, David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" is the holy grail of Crypto history, but a bit more dry. BEWARE. . .you may get hooked like me! Then the American Cryptogram's Classic Crypto Book Service or Aegean Park Press (both of whom specialize in Crypto books) will be "collecting" some of your money!

and finally a book that explains the detail in a clear, simple manner from Caesar's to credit cards. It's difficult to do this succinctly in few pages, but Rudy does it expertly. I highly recommend this small, interesting, cheap, and well-written book.

Mr. Kippenham has written a thoroughly enjoyable book! I've read a great many books on Cryptology, and while his book won't make you an expert, it gives descriptions and explanations superior to many other "beginner texts". In fact, the explanation of the mathematics involved in RSA encryption is the most lucid and easy to understand that I have yet read. Much of the book is a rehash of some other good crypto books like "Decrypted Secrets" and Beutelspacher's "Cryptology", but at least Kippenham puts it all together in an easy to understand style. For a more comprehensive history while still an enjoyable read, try Simon Singh's "The Code Book", the book that started me on my expensive journey of "collecting" crypto books, and if you're still interested, David Kahn's "The Codebreakers" is the holy grail of Crypto history, but a bit more dry. BEWARE. . .you may get hooked like me! Then the American Cryptogram's Classic Crypto Book Service or Aegean Park Press (both of whom specialize in Crypto books) will be "collecting" some of your money!

This is one of the best books on Cryptography that I have read. One of the best features of the book is the long detailed discussion about the "Enigma" machine of World War II. A lot of really suprising revelations about who REALLY broke that code system. How every encoding system works and how they are cracked are also discussed. Amazing how most code systems are very insecure. The book was great but a little dry to read, which I suspect has to do that it was translated from German. The examples are mostly English so it is easy and fun to read.

this book was one of the most amazing and comprehensable books that I have ever read. The author gives a detailed description to every example he brings up, I read it from cover to cover and learned some amazing methods to decode messages

I wanted to understand cryptology, with enough math behind various techniques and yet I don't want to be bored with the details. This book delivers.

The entertaining historical stories are icing on the cake and make it hard to put down.

Bought this book Thursday 23 Sept in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, and throroughly enjoyed reading it from start to end within the next 36 hours on the long way home to Sweden. Recommended for eveybody who wants a "flying start" into the cryptologi subject. My next action is to download PGP!

I loved this book. Mr. Kippenhahn's use of historical antecdotes and relating each technique to its predecessors allows anyone -- technically minded or not -- to be drawn into his unfolding story. The fact that he presents the mathematics in an easy to understand yet thorough manner makes it especially enjoyable for readers who want to understand each principle. Having read it from cover to cover, I intend to read it again, and spend more time on a few techniques that I brushed over on the first read.

If you enjoy puzzles, or technology in general, or wish to understand the techniques that are making electronic banking a reality, read this book.