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Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park [Hardcover]

Michael Smith (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 4 Dec 1998 | ISBN-10: 0752221892 | ISBN-13: 978-0752221892 | Edition: Reprint.
Tied to a Channel 4 television series in three one-hour parts, this is the story of the breaking of the Enigma code at Bletchley Park during World War II. That remarkable feat - breaking a code that the Germans believed to be unbreakable - was to play a major part in the outcome of the war. The book draws on official files and the testimonies of survivors to tell the story of a unique institution and the people who worked there. Examples designed to be intelligible to the layman are provided to illustrate how the code worked and how it was deciphered.

Product details

  • Hardcover: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Channel 4 Books; Reprint. edition (4 Dec 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0752221892
  • ISBN-13: 978-0752221892
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 14.8 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 559,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Michael Smith
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Amazon Review

When "Captain Ridley's shooting party" arrived at Bletchley Park in 1939 no-one would have guessed that by 1945 the guests would number nearly 10,000 and that collectively they would have contributed decisively to the Allied war effort. Their role? To decode the Enigma cypher used by the Germans for high-level communications. Their work has already inspired Robert Harris's novel Enigma and now a Channel 4 series has been produced, which this book accompanies.

It is an astonishing story. A melting pot of Oxbridge dons (including Alan Turing, the father of the modern computer), maverick oddballs and more regular citizens worked night and day at Station X, as Bletchley Park was known, to derive intelligence information from German coded messages. Bear in mind that an Enigma machine had a possible 159 million million million different settings and the magnitude of the challenge becomes apparent. That they succeeded, despite military scepticism, supplying information that led to the sinking of the Bismarck, Montgomery's victory in North Africa and the D-Day landings, is testament to an indomitable spirit that wrenched British intelligence into the modern age, replacing false beards and dodgy accents with a technological precision that was to be fundamental as the Second World War segued into the Cold War.

Michael Smith constructs his absorbing narrative around the reminiscences of those who worked and played at Bletchley Park, and their stories add a very human colour to what was a highly cerebral activity, remote as it was from the blood and loss of the battlefield, but with such direct bearing. The code breakers of Station X did not win the war but they undoubtedly shortened it, and the potential lives saved on both sides stand as their greatest achievement. --David Vincent

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but not the best. 6 Sep 2000
By P. Janeiro
Format:Paperback
I bought "station X" in 1999 and although the stories surrounding Bletchley Park are interesting, the book frustrated me - it gives a very poor explanation about the machine "ENIGMA", which ends up being the driving force of the book. I would recommend "The Code Book" instead - It really explains how ENIGMA works.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars So interesting 15 Jun 2010
By palace pier
Format:Hardcover
Just finished this book,and found it so interesting. From the history of code breaking to the winding up of Bletchley Park after WW2. The personalities of the people who worked there are brought out,maybe not fully,but give us an insight as to the atmosphere,the difficulties,the frustrations and the total secrecy of the place.
Just how the information was used,abused,and sometimes ignored,to the allies cost, was most fascinating, and tells us just how much more was going on in the background,of which the general public were totally unaware.
The devotion to duty was most impressive,especially as there were so many employed on this work. Would we find such devotion today in similar circumstances?
The description of how the codes were broken was absorbing and even amusing in parts as it told of the 'human factor' on the Germans part when sending messages. This was also not too technical so that you had no difficulty understanding the process.
I half expected this to be a tedious tale,but was pleasantly surprised.Definitely would recommend,especially for those just starting to get to grips with the 'Enigma' story,and its place in WW2 history.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but not enough extra over the television series 17 Feb 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This book ties in well with the television series, and is able to go into greater detail about the major protagonists at Bletchley Park: in particular the programme's attitude of 'Alan Turing solved everything' is put firmly into perspective with the achievements of other codebreakers at Station X.

Inevitably, however, one is left wishing that the book were rather more heavyweight, as it does not offer enough extra over the series in the final analysis

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