At last - the secrets of Bletchley Park's powerful codebreaking computers. This is a history of Colossus, the world's first fully-functioning electronic digital computer. Colossus was used during the Second World War at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, where it played an invaluable role cracking enemy codes. Until very recently, much about the Colossus machine was shrouded in secrecy, largely because the codes that were employed remained in use by the British security services until a short time ago. This book has only become possible due to the recent declassification in the US of wartime documents. With an introductory essay on cryptography and the history of code-breaking by Simon Singh, this book reveals the workings of Colossus and the extraordinary staff at Bletchley Park through personal accounts by those who lived and worked with the computer. Among them is the testimony of Thomas Flowers, who was the architect of Colossus and whose personal account, written shortly before he died, is published here for the first time. Other essays consider the historical importance of this remarkable machine, and its impact on the generations of computing technology that followed.
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An engaging book that will be essential reading for historians of twentieth-century technology and warfare. (Nature )
formidably detailed (Guardian )
compelling compilation (New Scientist )
formidably detailed (Guardian )
compelling compilation (New Scientist )
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The story of the Enigma cipher machine and its defeat by the Bletchley Park codebreakers astounded the world. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
The story of the Enigma cipher machine and its defeat by the Bletchley Park codebreakers astounded the world. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By PJC
Format:Hardcover
This book contains numerous articles written by some of those invisible people who actually took part in this top secret project. Some of the accounts are those of frustration, from people not allowed to get the recognition that they and their colleagues deserve. The level of detail and understanding shown makes this a very interesting and unique picture. I would recommend it without hesitation. Their ability to inject humour in the most serious of stories gives you some idea of the luck and good fortune that resulted in the most important achievements.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Ade Best
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This detailed account of the life and people who worked at Bletchley Park is a compelling read, whether or not you are interested in the hardware and technical explanations, of which there is an abundance, but for the personal accounts from those who were involved.
What comes across in these is the extraordinary loyalty and determination of individuals and teams, in spite of the poor living accommodation, welfare and working conditions afforded them in return for their genius and ingenuity.
However, these people fought with their brains. Driven by a collective resolve, winning was cracking a new cipher, which could save hundreds of lives by unveiling a single sentence.
The late Tommy Flowers' section on his work at the Post Office's Dollis Hill research centre using thermionic valves is a fascinating insight as to how it became possible to process data at speeds in powers of ten over mechanical systems, an overture to today's nano-transistor, gigahertz-clocked multi-core power processors.
Combined with the sheer intellectual capacity of the mathematicians working on the project to provide the basis of the programming, this was the key technology that made breaking deeply encrypted messages possible in useable timescales.
It also raises a poignant thought: the `Colossi' - there were quite few of them - seemed to become like trusted old friends, and their destruction after the end of hostilities was viewed by most working with them as a sad affair. Perhaps with 20-20 vision in hindsight, an over-zealous application of the Official Secrets Act, which held back the UK computer industry for decades?
Of interest to historians and the plain curious, this is a quality collection of information on the essence of what made Bletchley Park...... Read more ›
What comes across in these is the extraordinary loyalty and determination of individuals and teams, in spite of the poor living accommodation, welfare and working conditions afforded them in return for their genius and ingenuity.
However, these people fought with their brains. Driven by a collective resolve, winning was cracking a new cipher, which could save hundreds of lives by unveiling a single sentence.
The late Tommy Flowers' section on his work at the Post Office's Dollis Hill research centre using thermionic valves is a fascinating insight as to how it became possible to process data at speeds in powers of ten over mechanical systems, an overture to today's nano-transistor, gigahertz-clocked multi-core power processors.
Combined with the sheer intellectual capacity of the mathematicians working on the project to provide the basis of the programming, this was the key technology that made breaking deeply encrypted messages possible in useable timescales.
It also raises a poignant thought: the `Colossi' - there were quite few of them - seemed to become like trusted old friends, and their destruction after the end of hostilities was viewed by most working with them as a sad affair. Perhaps with 20-20 vision in hindsight, an over-zealous application of the Official Secrets Act, which held back the UK computer industry for decades?
Of interest to historians and the plain curious, this is a quality collection of information on the essence of what made Bletchley Park...... Read more ›
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By A. R. Bailey
Format:Hardcover
A very interesting book written by those who were involved. Much easier to read than Paul Gannon's book as it is personal rather than historical from documents. A very interesting book and I can thoroughly recommend it.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By J. Hazell
Format:Hardcover
Couldn't put it down. You are lectured by some of the worlds greatest scientists, who undoubtably save the western world from the Nazis; it is written with humour and in excellent style. What fortune that the release of this classified information was just in time (but only just) to allow contributions from those who really 'won the war'. The repetition of how Colossus worked by its many contributors allows non-techies to really understand what it did, and how the first computer was British not American! Da Vinci code - eat your heart out!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Ted Marynicz
Format:Hardcover
... ever asks you "Where did I come from?" you can safely give it this book to read. Probably the Kindle version would be easiest.
Perhaps the only other input it would need for proper context is some more detail covering the prior work done by the Polish trio Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rózycki and Henryk Zygalski who broke Enigma around 1932 - such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enigma-German-Machine-Cipher-Broken/dp/0890935475
Perhaps the only other input it would need for proper context is some more detail covering the prior work done by the Polish trio Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rózycki and Henryk Zygalski who broke Enigma around 1932 - such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Enigma-German-Machine-Cipher-Broken/dp/0890935475
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Melly K
Format:Hardcover
Gave this book to my 80 year old father after he had visited Bletchley Park. From what I can gather he is loving reading it and mentions it everytime we see him. Must be good!
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