4 ms·

Any good book that delves into the detail of the code breaking done at Bletchley park?

AndrewOMartin 2y ago
The Hut 6 Story, goes into enough detail that Gordon Welchman (Simply put, Turing's boss) lost his security clearance. If you care about the human side, but are keen to take on the details there's no better book possible.
- louthy 2y ago
  Another vote for The Hut Six Story. The title includes ‘Six’ not ‘6’ (not that it should trip up a search algo, but you never know)
  - mprovost 2y ago
    Apparently some computers still aren't able to crack the simplest encryption schemes.
hermitShell 2y ago
If you would enjoy loosely related fiction, Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon is an option I would personally recommend. You must have some tolerance for his particular style and content…
- rjsw 2y ago
  Or Enigma by Robert Harris.
jtcond13 2y ago
"The Theory that Would Not Die" by Sharon McGrayne has a good chapter on this, book is a more general history of Bayesian statistics.
jefc1111 2y ago
This is a great book and touches on the subject you mention https://simonsingh.net/books/the-code-book/ https://simonsingh.net/books/the-code-book/
- hermitcrab 2y ago
  Having read this book, I set some codes for my son to break. Each code, once broken, told him the location of the next coded message. And they got progressively harder. It was a fun challenge.
- hermitcrab 2y ago
  The author of this book also runs an excellent weekly maths newsletter/quiz for 11-16 year olds, and it's free: https://parallel.org.uk/parallelograms https://parallel.org.uk/parallelograms
cguess 2y ago
If you want a book in the same vein, and contemporary with Bletchley "Turning's Cathedral" by George Dyson is about the Institute for Advanced Study and the Manhattan Project. Needless to say there's a lot of overlap and it really defines the culture of computer engineering at the time.
themadturk 2y ago
On the American side, "The Woman Who Smashed Codes" by Jason Fagone is really good.

The Hut 6 Story, goes into enough detail that Gordon Welchman (Simply put, Turing's boss) lost his security clearance. If you care about the human side, but are keen to take on the details there's no better book possible.

louthy 2y ago
Another vote for The Hut Six Story. The title includes ‘Six’ not ‘6’ (not that it should trip up a search algo, but you never know)
- mprovost 2y ago
  Apparently some computers still aren't able to crack the simplest encryption schemes.

hermitShell 2y ago

If you would enjoy loosely related fiction, Neal Stephenson Cryptonomicon is an option I would personally recommend. You must have some tolerance for his particular style and content…

rjsw 2y ago
Or Enigma by Robert Harris.

jtcond13 2y ago

"The Theory that Would Not Die" by Sharon McGrayne has a good chapter on this, book is a more general history of Bayesian statistics.

jefc1111 2y ago

This is a great book and touches on the subject you mention https://simonsingh.net/books/the-code-book/ https://simonsingh.net/books/the-code-book/

hermitcrab 2y ago
Having read this book, I set some codes for my son to break. Each code, once broken, told him the location of the next coded message. And they got progressively harder. It was a fun challenge.
hermitcrab 2y ago
The author of this book also runs an excellent weekly maths newsletter/quiz for 11-16 year olds, and it's free: https://parallel.org.uk/parallelograms https://parallel.org.uk/parallelograms

cguess 2y ago

If you want a book in the same vein, and contemporary with Bletchley "Turning's Cathedral" by George Dyson is about the Institute for Advanced Study and the Manhattan Project. Needless to say there's a lot of overlap and it really defines the culture of computer engineering at the time.

themadturk 2y ago

On the American side, "The Woman Who Smashed Codes" by Jason Fagone is really good.