- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books (1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0760708630
- ISBN-13: 978-0760726723
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 16 x 3.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,403,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #94 in Books > History > World History > World War II 1939-1945 > Enigma Code
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The year is early 1941, and the Battle of Britain is intensifying. The Kriegsmarine submarines, organized in groups - wolfpacks - are trying to cut the life-line the British defense depends on - the convoys which supply Britain with food, military supplies and raw materials. And they are pretty much successful in it, sinking more ships each month than Britain and United States can build. Meanwhile, a group of mathematicians, linguists and other odd characters located a top-secret base in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, is trying in frenzy to decode the German naval code, Enigma...
David Kahn has produced a well researched and clearly written book on this segment of naval history, which has long remained classified. The story of Enigma is traced from the Arthur Scherbius's design, through the first successful decoding made by Marian Rejewski's group in Poland, and finally to Alan Turing and the Hut 8 staff in Bletchley Park. We learn that while direct attack on the cipher was mindbogglingly impossible, the chances for decoding being 150 million million million to one, the Brits had to find bypasses, raiding German boats for the on-board code books, employing "kisses" (identical messages transmitted in two different cryptosystems), and finally mechanising the solution finding with the "bombes".
The emphasis of the book is more on the naval war than on the cryptology. Although the operation of Enigma machine is described to some extent, you will not be able to fully understand its workings from it alone. Singh's Code Book, for instance, has a much better introduction to it. It also limits its scope quite narrowly, not spending one single word on the fact that while Hut 8 was busy solving naval Enigma, some hundred yards away the world's first electronic computer - Colossus - was built in attempt to solve the German Lorenz cipher.
The book comes with an exhaustive list of notes, an excellent bibliography and a useful index. There are also over thirty b/w photographs.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
`Nothing like the Hollywood version at all' is this exceedingly well researched account of the true story of capturing the first Enigma machine. This work is so detailed that we are even treated to the thoughts of Commander Joe Baker-Cresswell RN who, at a crucial moment when poised to ram U 110, remembered how the Russians recovered a code book from a German cruiser grounded in the Baltic during WW1 and how that book was used to decode German messages throughout that earlier conflict. Wondering whether or not he was about to destroy a similar find, he ordered full astern just in time to avoid the intended collision, sent over a boarding party and was responsible for the capture of the first Enigma cipher machine of the War. In so doing he made one of the most valuable contributions to the eventual Allied victory.
Rarely have I enjoyed such a fascinating read and it says much for the outstanding way in which detailed, technical research is combined with sheer readability that this important historical work reads better than most novels. In order to provide the reader with a taste of what I mean, Baker-Cresswell and U 110 are introduced in the first two paragraphs of Page 1 where the author skilfully begins to set the scene for their historic encounter. By page 7 one is the officer commanding No 3 escort group charged with protecting a convoy from U Boat attack and the other is attacking that convoy. By Page 16 the badly damaged U 110 is forced to the surface where her crew abandon ship. Only now is Baker-Cresswell mindful of the grounding of the Magdeburg.
Pausing there, we are then treated to a full account of the grounding of that German cruiser in 1914 and the resultant effects of her captured documents. The next chapters are then devoted to a history of codes and the evolution of various devices used by different powers in trying to protect their secrets. Post-WW1, this led to ever more sophisticated means with equally refined counter-measures and straightforward spying. I found it fascinating to learn which countries were most proficient at breaking which other country's codes. All seemed to have different proficiencies.
Eventually the first British dedicated department for such activities was established and went on to become Bletchley Park. It was also interesting to learn of the type of genius they employed - mathematicians, linguists, scientists and even chess players all seemed to fit the bill.
It is not, therefore, until we reach Page 189 that the story of Baker-Cresswell's confrontation with U 110 continues and, as it does so, we are also treated to the minutiae of detail, the food, cigarettes and personal items found on that U Boat in addition to the sheer quantity of those items of far greater importance.
And so the story continues in what is, as I say, an immensely readable accounts of how the first Enigma was seized and of the vital role it played during WW2.
Altogether one of the finest works I have ever read and, as someone who spends considerable time immersed in research, I congratulate the author on an excellent job of work.
NM
Rarely have I enjoyed such a fascinating read and it says much for the outstanding way in which detailed, technical research is combined with sheer readability that this important historical work reads better than most novels. In order to provide the reader with a taste of what I mean, Baker-Cresswell and U 110 are introduced in the first two paragraphs of Page 1 where the author skilfully begins to set the scene for their historic encounter. By page 7 one is the officer commanding No 3 escort group charged with protecting a convoy from U Boat attack and the other is attacking that convoy. By Page 16 the badly damaged U 110 is forced to the surface where her crew abandon ship. Only now is Baker-Cresswell mindful of the grounding of the Magdeburg.
Pausing there, we are then treated to a full account of the grounding of that German cruiser in 1914 and the resultant effects of her captured documents. The next chapters are then devoted to a history of codes and the evolution of various devices used by different powers in trying to protect their secrets. Post-WW1, this led to ever more sophisticated means with equally refined counter-measures and straightforward spying. I found it fascinating to learn which countries were most proficient at breaking which other country's codes. All seemed to have different proficiencies.
Eventually the first British dedicated department for such activities was established and went on to become Bletchley Park. It was also interesting to learn of the type of genius they employed - mathematicians, linguists, scientists and even chess players all seemed to fit the bill.
It is not, therefore, until we reach Page 189 that the story of Baker-Cresswell's confrontation with U 110 continues and, as it does so, we are also treated to the minutiae of detail, the food, cigarettes and personal items found on that U Boat in addition to the sheer quantity of those items of far greater importance.
And so the story continues in what is, as I say, an immensely readable accounts of how the first Enigma was seized and of the vital role it played during WW2.
Altogether one of the finest works I have ever read and, as someone who spends considerable time immersed in research, I congratulate the author on an excellent job of work.
NM
Format:Hardcover
I was delighted to get a second hand hardback copy posted from the US but at a snip of the price of a new british paperback edition. I have long been looking for this book in which wartime exploits of our uncle feature, thank you Amazon for tracking it down. I still can't get over the wonders of the internet (coming to silver surfing somewhat late!)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read, though somewhat lacking in detail.
Kahn's book is an excellent read; rather than focusing too much on the details, he paints the process of breaking the Enigma with broad strokes, allowing readers without much... Read more
Published on 18 May 2007 by Odd Erling Eriksen
very detailed
In reading this book one easily can extrapolate the methods of deciphering te Enigma to the methods used today by the hackers in order to break security systems. Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2000
Winning the cryptography war.
This book is one of the best at describing the advancements in cryptography both preceeding and during the second world war. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2000 by Disappointed snapper
great book, real heavyweight read
Kahn has written a great book, a real heavyweight read. It easily matches other good works on WWII radio intelligence, such as Anthony Cave Brown's "Bodyguard of Lies,"... Read more
Published on 5 Nov 1999 by inkman5150@yahoo.com
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