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Anyone who is even slightly interested in crypto history should try to track down a copy of this
book. This book is Yardley's memoirs on forming the WWI Black Chamber - an organization who's "sensitive
ears catch the faintest whisperings in the foreign capitals of the world". Yardley writes about
secret inks, forging of embassy seals, the training of "friendly" female spies, and on more than
one occasion, executions as a result of his work. An excellent read.
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Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War
Marks, Leo. 1998. 613 pages.
Categories: Biographical, History |
The most concise summary of this autobiography is one man's wartime fight with internal politics to get a one time pad system adopted. A less boring sounding summary could be that people live, die, and are tortured for lack of good cryptographic mechanisms. Since Mr. Marks was intentionally left in the dark constantly, the book turns into sort of a mystery novel at times. A good editor would probably have removed 50 pages from this book, as there are way too many "that day, another indecipherable arrived" sections. This might tempt some readers to skim the book, but if then do, they'll most certainly miss out on the exploding poo and L-pills.
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Chinese Black Chamber, The: An Adventure in Espionage
Yardley, Herbert O. 1983 (Currently out of print). 225 pages.
Categories: Biographical, History |
Given the trouble Yardley nearly got into after writing "The American Black Chamber", this book
wasn't published for over 40 years after its completion. Yardley recounts his experiences
helping the Chinese resist Japan from 1938 to 1940. The book is mostly the difficulties he
encountered while trying to set up a Black Chamber in China.
The culture begins to influence him, and he visits opium houses, bargains for family
daughters, and even shoots the hand of his chauffeur who's eavesdropping outside his
window. A one point he recommends that a traitor he discovered is assassinated and creates
a silencer (which the Chinese had not yet seen) for that task. Not nearly as much crypto
explanation as in the "The American Black Chamber", but in this one he still does his fair
share of ferreting out spies and the like.
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Cryptology: Machines, History and Methods
Deavours, Cipher A. (Editor) / Kahn, David (Editor) / Kruh, Louis (Editor) / Mellen, Greg (Editor) / Winkel, Brian J. (Editor). 1989 (Currently out of print). 520 pages.
Categories: Biographical, Cryptanalysis, History |
The 2nd volume of selected papers from the CRYPTOLOGIA journal (see also the "Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Selections from Cryptologia: History, People, and Technology").
All three volumes are unsurpassed in their highly illustrated analysis of historically significant cryptography machines. (This is, however, is probably the weakest of the three volumes.) The many topics in this volume include:
* Biographical information on cryptographically important individuals including Marian Rejenski, Georges-Jean Painvain, and Duke August.
* Articles on automated analysis of substitution ciphers.
* Pictorial discussion on the proper use of an Enigma.
* The St. Paul's Churchyard tombstone ciphers.
* Ongoing analysis of the Beale Ciphers (probably a hoax).
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Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Deavours, Cipher A. (Editor) / Kahn, David (Editor) / Kruh, Louis (Editor) / Mellen, Greg (Editor) / Winkel, Brian J. (Editor). 1987 (Currently out of print). 519 pages.
Categories: Biographical, Cryptanalysis, History |
The 1st volume of selected papers from the CRYPTOLOGIA journal (see also "Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Selections from Cryptologia: History, People, and Technology").
All three volumes are unsurpassed in their highly illustrated analysis of historically significant cryptography machines. The many topics in this volume include:
* Biographical information on cryptographically important individuals including William Friedman and Franke Rowlett.
* Excellent commentary on Yardley’s "The American Black Chamber" book.
* A couple of articles on unicity, with unicity points computed for many different ciphers.
* A few big names submitting articles, such as Rivest, and another by Robert Morris, a giant in cryptography (though you’re probably more familiar with his son Robert Morris Jr. and his internet worm of '88).
* A couple of articles on the automated analysis of cryptograms.
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In Code: A Mathematical Journey
Flannery, Sarah / Flannery, David. 2000, UK 1st edition. 271 pages.
Note: I have not read the newer US 1st edition (release date 2001).
Categories: Biographical |
This book is the story of how Sarah Flannery captured the headlines with her Cayley-Purser
encryption algorithm. I was privileged to briefly talk with Ron Rivest about her as these
events were unfolding. He had recently talked with her on the phone, and spoke well of
her. Having success so early has probably put a lot of pressure on Ms. Flannery to continue
to do "genius" things, so it seems that she's avoiding the lime light, at least until her
education is completed.
While the UK version of her book doesn't discuss her algorithm in detail
(apparently the more recent
US version
does, and has over 100 more pages), she gives an account of the events
that made the world stop and look -- all with a refreshing humility that is rare among
cryptographers. Much of the book provides an enjoyable introduction to modular
arithmetic. The book requires little mathematical background, but a curiosity for
things mathematical is a must.
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Selections from Cryptologia: History, People, and Technology
Deavours, Cipher A. (Editor) / Kahn, David (Editor) / Kruh, Louis (Editor) / Mellen, Greg (Editor) / Winkel, Brian J. (Editor). 1998. 552 pages.
Categories: Biographical, Cryptanalysis, History |
The 3rd volume of selected papers from the CRYPTOLOGIA journal (see also the "Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" and "Cryptology: Machines, History and Methods").
All three volumes are unsurpassed in their highly illustrated analysis of historically significant cryptography machines. The many topics in this volume include:
* Biographical information on cryptographically important individuals including Agnes Meyer Driscoll (broke the Japanese "Blue Book" code) and Prescott Currier.
* 14th century Arab contributions to letter frequency cryptanalysis.
* 19th century cryptography used by the Vatican.
* The cryptography of the author Lewis Carroll (the pen name for Charles Dodgson).
* Lots of photos of classic Russian crypto devises.
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