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In the mid 1600's, John Wilkins (an English bishop and science fiction writer) crafted a way of writing Latin that organized all of language into a giant mostly hierarchical taxonomy (not too unlike those useless ivory tower folks of today who want to craft an ontology that encompasses absolutely everything in the world in hopes of magically enabling automated reasoning). This system, called Real Character, assigns one symbol per word. How one navigates the taxonomy to reach the desired word influences how the symbol for that word is drawn.
This system of writing was recently employed by techy fiction author Neal Stephenson, who used the code on an animated intro screen as a crack-the-code-type publicity contest for his "Quicksilver" book.
I'm not sure how to rate this book. It seems somewhat pointless, but it was a lot of effort. I guess I'll give it a thumbs up.
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Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing
Gardner, Martin. 1972. 96 pages.
Categories: Kids, Pen and Paper |
Gardner (the puzzle man) wrote a small crypto book in which he's constantly paying
homage to Kahn's "The Codebreakers" (also reviewed here). He presents the more interesting historical
crypto devices and an section on varied secret inks, each with different means of revealing
itself. My guess is that this book is appropriate for ages 11 and up.
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Cryptanalysis: A Study of Ciphers and their Solution
Gaines, Helen Fouche. 1939. 237 pages.
Categories: Cryptanalysis, Pen and Paper |
While very detailed and history packed, this book is kinda dull, and not fun to work through. Not as interesting
as "Cryptanalysis for Microcomputers" (also reviewed here). As with most cryptanalysis
books, it deals with exclusivly pre-computer ciphers.
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Cryptography: The Science of Secret Writing
Smith, Laurence Dwight. 1943. 164 pages.
Categories: Pen and Paper |
Yet another introduction to pre-computer cryptography. Transposition ciphers, substitution ciphers, a little cryptanalysis, blah blah blah. An inexpensive book.
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Cryptography or The Principles and Practice of Cypher-Writing
Hulme, Edward F. 1898 (Currently out of print). 192 pages.
Categories: Pen and Paper |
You may have a hard time finding this book, as it was published over 100 years ago. A
fascinating read by an author who obviously wanted to both entertain and educate his
readers. This book is a collection of a number of clever cryptography techniques, many
of which exploit physical properties of the information, or the medium upon which
the information is stored.
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Cryptomenytics and Cryptography of Gustavus Selenus in Nine Books, The
Selenus, Gustavus / Walden, John William Henry (Translator). 1624 (Currently out of print).
Categories: Newly Added Books, Pen and Paper, Steganography |
The online translation (along with the original Latin) is fascinating read. This work is from a time when well guarded formalized insights into cryptography and steganography were still considered by many to be powerful mystic arts. It is an illustrated blending of cryptography, steganography, and poetry. Frequent reference to the steganography of Johannes Trithemius is made throughout the text. Would that all cryptography books began with the following: "Let no one read unwilling, for such I’ve written not; For him my page is written, to whom it gives delight."
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The man that has written over 20 bizzare books has come out with another. Cryptorunes
is a collection of cryptogram puzzles, done in weird eye-candy ways you'd expect from Pickover. Interesting
symbol fonts and fun quotes make this a recommended crypto puzzle book.
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Kids' Code and Cipher Book, The
Garden, Nancy. 1981. 164 pages.
Note: I have not read the newer Reprint edition (release date November 1991).
Categories: Kids, Pen and Paper |
One of the better crypto books for kids. The author introduces encryption methods in the context of an ongoing pirate story. Even the simplest
of permutation ciphers (i.e. rail line cipher) would probably stump your average note-confiscating 4th grade teacher. Hopefully, this book will
get back into print soon, but it shouldn't be to hard to track down a used copy online.
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Manual of Cryptography: Britsh War Office
Barker, Wayne. 1981 (Currently out of print). 96 pages.
Categories: Pen and Paper |
This book is a reproduction of a classical historical 1914 document prepared by the British war
office. Note, this is the "Manual Of
Cryptography" #28, not #14 in Aegean Park Press'
Cryptographic Series.
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Secret Code Breaker (vol I, II, III): A Cryptanalyst's Handbook
Reynard, Robert / null, LUWUU APQFT ZEOWS (Programming). 1999. 115 pages.
Categories: History, Kids, Pen and Paper |
Secret Code Breaker Vol I to III are a great set of books specifically aimed at a younger audience.
The books explore
traditional (pre computer) cryptography, and both come with software (DOS, but works with Windows) that lets you try out
the concepts you learn in each chapter. Packed with historical context, the reader is
challenged to decrypt messages that were actually sent during times of war. After reading
the books, I recommend them for readers ages 13 to adult. Adults who enjoy newspaper cryptograms will
really enjoy these texts.
(Books written from 1996 to 1999, and 115 pages on average.)
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Secret Codes for Kids
Allen, Robert. 2000. 224 pages.
Categories: Kids, Pen and Paper |
A collection of 106 codes to decipher, probably most appropriate for 5th grade or older. Would
keep an intelligent youth occupied on a long car trip. Nothing terrible novel here, but nothing wrong with it either.
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Apparently, Yardley didn't actually write this book, but instead, it was ghost written by an engineer working at AT&T (see "Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" for more information). The book is mostly a collection of cryptograms. Copies are hard to come by, and fair to good condition copies of this book run anywhere from $150 to $400.
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Haven't finished reading this book yet.
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Military Cryptanalysis Part I: With New Added Problems For The Student
Friedman, William F. 1935. 149 pages.
Categories: Cryptanalysis, Pen and Paper |
Haven't finished reading this book yet.
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Military Cryptanalysis Part II: With Added PROBLEMS and COMPUTER PROGRAMS
Friedman, William F. 1937. 158 pages.
Categories: Cryptanalysis, Pen and Paper |
Haven't finished reading this book yet.
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Military Cryptanalysis Part III: Simpler Varieties of Aperiodic Substitution Systems
Friedman, William F. 1939. 119 pages.
Categories: Cryptanalysis, Pen and Paper |
Haven't finished reading this book yet.
Declassified 1992.
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Military Cryptanalysis Part IV: Transposition and Fractionating Systems
Friedman, William F. 1941. 189 pages.
Categories: Cryptanalysis, Pen and Paper |
Haven't finished reading this book yet.
Declassified 1992.
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Secret and Urgent: The Story of Codes and Ciphers
Pratt, Fletcher. 1939. 282 pages.
Categories: History, Pen and Paper |
Haven't finished reading this book yet.
This ISBN refers to a more recent Aegean Park Press reprint.
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