The Science of Secrecy: The Secret History of Codes and Codebreaking [Hardcover]

Secret codes are perennially, and universally, fascinating. Remember using lemon-juice to write invisible messages? What about the thrill of inventing your own private language? Something in the idea of occult information appeals to the 007 that lurks in every psyche.

Author and TV producer Simon Singh has now taken this symptomatically human trait and turned it into a TV series tied in to this entertaining book. In form, the first half of The Science of Secrecy is a zippy history of codes and ciphers (Spartan stick-ciphers, Roman shift-ciphers, a whole tradition of Muslim cipherologists), married to a closer analysis of notable code crackings of the past. Singh ably tells the fascinating tale of how the encoded assassination plans of Mary Queen of Scots were decrypted by Queen Elizabeth's embryonic MI5.

The second half concentrates on 20th-century code cracking. To judge by Singh, the Brits won both the Great War and the Second World War because of expert code busting. In 1914-18 it was by deciphering an incriminating German telegram, which brought America militarily onside; in 1939-45 it was by employing the most brilliant of crypto-boffins at Bletchley Park, who, via the Colossus decryption computer, ensured the Allies were always able to second guess the Nazi war machine.

The final section of the book, which describes attempts to encrypt--and decrypt--the Web, underlines why codes are of crucial topicality. Should vital material on the Net be encoded, or does that infringe free exchange of information, the very essence of cyberspace? Singh offers a readable, lucid and well informed take on this, much as he tackles every other subject in his diverting and illuminating book. --Sean Thomas

'Singh's account combines readability with a more meaty level of technical analysis than any other have seen. His powers of explanation are as dazzling as ever.'

'Singh has the knack of making the frightening world of number theory seem like child's play, there is more than enough here to interest the mathematically squeamish.'

Singh is holder of a Cambridge PhD in physics, former BBC TV producer of Tomorrow's World and author of Fermat's Last Theorem, a 1997 bestseller and BAFTA documentary award winner for the accompanying programme he co-directed in the Horizon series. He has achieved another intriguing, brain-exercising work that has already won considerable success in its first form as The Codebook. This version is a tie-in with the Channel 4 series which Singh will present in five parts relating to the book during November and December. Among the accounts are how the Crimean War's course was changed by the cracking of the "unbreakable" Vigenere cipher, deciphering the code behind the doomed Babington Plot to free Mary, Queen of Scots, the solving of the Zimmermann telegram that altered the outcome of the First World War, and reading the ancient hieroglyphics which revealed the language of the Egyptians. Singh also looks at contemporary challenges and problems concerning Internet security and the invention of public key encryption in a fascinating book that should emulate the success of Fermat's Last Theorem.

'[Singh tells] these stories with infectious relish. He alternates between explanation of how ciphers are constructed and can be cracked, and tales of the skulduggery surrounding them.'

A TV tie-in edition of The Code Book filmed as a prime-time five-part Channel 4 series on the history of codes and code-breaking and presented by the author.

The Science of Secrecy, which accompanies the major Channel 4 series of the autumn, brings to life the hidden history of codes and code breaking. Since the birth of writing, there has also been the need for secrecy. The story of codes is the story of the brilliant men and women who used mathematics, linguistics, machines, computers, gut instinct, logic and detective work to encrypt and break these secrect messages and the effect their work has had on history.

Each episode of The Science of Secrecy Simon Singh tells us a fascinating story from the history of codes: how the course of Crimean War was changed by the cracking of ‘unbreakable ‘ Vigenere code; how the well-timed cracking of a single encoded telegram altered the course of World War One or how the mysteries of the Rosetta stone were revealed.

The Science of Secrecy also investigates present day concerns about privacy on the internet and public key cryptography and looks to the future and the possibilities that quantum computing will radically change the science of secrecy in the 21st century.

The brilliant history and science of codes
THE SCIENCE OF SECRECY which accompanies the major Channel Four series, brings to life the hidden history of codes and code breaking.

Since the birth of writing, there has been the need for secrecy. The story of codes is the story of the brilliant men and women who not only invented new forms of encryption but who also used mathematics, linguistics, machines, computers, gut instinct, logic and detective work to crack enemy communication. The dramatic effects of their decipherment has shaped the lives of individuals, determined the outcome of battles and decided the fate of nations.

In each chapter, Simon Singh tells a fascinating story from history: the decipherment of secret messages that led to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots by her cousin, Elizabeth I; the cracking of the seemingly impenetrable Vigenere Code by Charles Babbage, the inventor of the difference machine; how Jean-Francois Champollion unravelled the mysteries of Ancient Egypt encoded within their hieroglyphics script; the effects the decipherment of the Zimmerman telegram which changed the course of World War One; and how the rise of the internet has made the issue of privacy one of the most important questions of our times.

Through these stories, Simon Singh presents an intriguing insight into the hidden world of codes and code-breaking, presenting the personal stories of individuals whose genius changed the course of history.

The companion book to the Channel 4 series
In 1999 I wrote 'The Code Book', a history of codes and codebreaking, which has now been turned into a Channel 4 TV series entitled 'The Science of Secrecy'.

Accompanying the series is a book of the same name, and I have been asked about the difference between 'The Science of Secrecy' and 'The Code Book', so here goes ...

'The Science of Secrecy' follows the TV series much more closely than 'The Code Book' and it concentrates on expanding upon the ideas in each programme. It is also better illustrated than 'The Code Book' and has a format that is less intimidating.

I think that 'The Science of Secrecy' book is a great partner for the TV series. However, if you have already read 'The Code Book' then you would not find much new material in 'The Science of Secrecy' and you would probably not want to buy it ... unless it was as a gift for somebody else. For readers of 'The Code Book', who are desperate for another crypto book, then I would recommend something more specialised, perhaps one of the titles listed in the back of 'The Code Book'.

Simon Singh is a science journalist and TV producer. Having completed his PhD at Cambridge he worked from 1991 to 1997 at the BBC producing Tomorrow’s World and co-directing the BAFTA award-winning documentary Fermat’s Last Theorem for the Horizon series. In 1997, he published Fermat’s Last Theorem, which was a no 1 best-seller in Britain and translated into 22 languages. In 1999, he published The Code Book.