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The Colossus Computer (1943-1996): And How it Helped to Break the German Lorenz Cipher in WWII
 
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The Colossus Computer (1943-1996): And How it Helped to Break the German Lorenz Cipher in WWII [Illustrated] (Paperback)

by Tony Sale (Author)
2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

The Colossus Computer (1943-1996): And How it Helped to Break the German Lorenz Cipher in WWII + Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Code-breaking Computers + Colossus: Bletchley Park's Greatest Secret
Price For All Three: £24.08

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Product details

  • Paperback: 20 pages
  • Publisher: M.& M.Baldwin; illustrated edition edition (1 Nov 1998)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0947712364
  • ISBN-13: 978-0947712365
  • Product Dimensions: 20 x 14.2 x 0.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 392,412 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From the Publisher

This is an unashamedly modest booklet, designed to provide basic information for those who know little or nothing about Colossus. It is based on a talk which the author gives to visitors to Colossus at Bletchley Park. As he was repeatedly asked by these visitors if they could have a written version of his talk, he decided to meet their requests by preparing this booklet. It thus fills a genuine need for an authoritative introduction to its subject - and who is better able to provide it than the man who masterminded the rebuild of Colossus? It may be brief, and it's certainly cheap, but that doesn't make it worthless. Even in 2008 you can still find writers in (for example) The Times claiming totally erroneously that Colossus was used to break Enigma codes.
If such writers had read Tony Sale's excellent booklet, they might get the story right. Until then, I suggest that the vitriol be reserved for writers who get things wrong, not for writers who provide useful introductions to complex subjects.


About the Author

Tony Sale is a retired Intelligence Officer who now devotes his time to preserving Britain's WW2 codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park, and to developing exhibitions on that site. He tackled, and completed, the daunting task of building a working replica of the world's first computer - Colossus - used by the codebreakers in their attack on high-level German crypto systems.
The replica was switched on by the Duke of Kent in 1996, and has since been admired by thousands of visitors to Bletchley. Tony is very often in attendance to give a first-hand account of the reconstruction and operation of Colossus.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute waste of paper, 4 Mar 2002
By Steve Taylor "steveastro" (Manchester UK) - See all my reviews
  
Despite Tony Sales reputation as the builder and archivist for the new Colossus machines,the very thin booklet gives no new information or background to that in any published works.

Forget it. Read "Secret War" or the "Ultra Secret" or "Station X" or...

Visit the museum at Bletchley Park, and don't ever forget the debt we owe them all.

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A general overview only, 18 Sep 2002
By A Customer
The author describes this book as "a slightly expanded text of the short talk that I have presented since 1996 at open week ends in Bletchley Park in the Colossus viewing room". That is a fair description. It's addressed to a general readership, who might find a few of the phrases used a bit bewildering, e.g. "the gate delay time is 1.2 microseconds". There is no attempt to explain such phrases, or to go into great detail about any aspect of Colossus. You won't find a detailed description of Colossus, how it worked, or how it was used to break the Lorenz cipher. Worth reading if you know nothing about Colossus, otherwise it probably won't add to your knowledge.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars informative and enlightening, 20 Jul 2007
By Alan J. Rintoul "bigboot" (Boston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I think that the reviewers below reviewed this book for what they thought it should be than rather for what it is.
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2.0 out of 5 stars curates Egg
There are far better books on the subject with more of the history of this rather fine piece of Engineering that, what with the British Official Secrets Act allowed the US to grab... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Rick J. Fornalski

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