The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography From the best-
selling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book is a history of man's urg
e to uncover the secrets of codes, from Egyptian puzzles to modern day computer
encryptions. As in Fermat's Last Theorem, Simon Singh brings life to an anstonis
hing story of puzzles, codes, languages and riddles that reveals man's continual
pursuit to disguise and uncover, and to work out the secret languages of others
. Codes have influenced events throughout history, both in the stories of those
who make them and those who break them. The betrayal of Mary Queen of Scots and
the cracking of the enigma code that helped the Allies in World War II are major
episodes in a continuing history of cryptography. In addition to stories of int
rigue and warfare, Simon Singh also investigates other codes, the unravelling of
genes and the rediscovery of ancient languages and most tantalisingly, the Beal
e ciphers, an unbroken code that could hold the key to a $20 million treasure.
