Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography - The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary

There are a lot of books available on the subject of cryptography. For the non- technical, non-practitioner
I think this one may be the best (though, I certainly have not read them all). Its very readable and accessible.
Not boring.

This is a great introduction to the history of cryptography and the men and women who were instrumental and worked out of the public eyes during times of war and peace to give us the freedoms we have today.

Great book for amateurs who have no knowledge about cryptography. Feels like I am reading a novel not a non-fiction. Like the narration. I would recommend for any one who loves to know about code breaking without actually knowing the boring parts.

If one of the following describes you, you should buy this book:
1. You are interested in cryptography.
2. You are in a class that teaches cryptography, and you find it dry and dull.
3. You enjoy doing the cryptoquip in the newspaper.

If none of the above apply to you, then you're on your own in this decision.

I loved this book. It's a very fascinating topic, and I found the author got just the right balance between technical details and history. Highly recommended if you're interested in this sort of thing.

Singh is a fabulous science writer. The history from ancient times up to
WWII is fascinatingly written. The best part, for me, was the clear
explanation of modern cryptography and its invention by Diffie, RSA, and
the English, etc. Singh made the effort to understand asymmetric
cryptography in depth, and the reader benefits. You will understand it!

This book was absolutely wonderful. It is not too technical, so it is easy to read and understand without being boring. It gives a great introduction to various ciphers used throughout history, general cryptographic theory, as well as thousands of years of history. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in codes, ciphers, cryptography, data security, or history.

The first few chapters were a difficult read, but the book became more compelling as I read more. The explanation of the German Enigma machine is extremely well done. It covers historical ciphers well, but misses recent ciphers (AES, ECC) and programs like GnuPG while covering quantum cryptography. Worth the read if you are looking for an understanding of the historical background of codes and ciphers.

As someone who reads technical writing both for a living and for fun, I have to say that this book is perhaps the very best example of technical writing I've ever seen. Singh is able to explain some fairly complicated mathematics to the lay audience beautifully, and weave in great stories all the way through.

The author has a talent of making history interesting. Not only was I thoroughly enthralled by the evolution of the subject, but the historical background that accompanied each change interested me. This is a first rate book, you'll learn a lot as I did.

This book is FANTASTIC. It details the cat and mouse game between codemakeres and codebreakers in a very lucid and intersting manner. It will make you appreciate the role of intelligence in warfare even more, and you will know about people and facilities who have influenced the course of world war 2 as much as aircrafts and battleships.

This book really very interesting and informative and anyone who just wanna read a book just for kiling time should grab this one.

Singh is entertaining and VERY knowledgeable on Crypto. He reviews all of the major cryptographic techniques, and gives a history of the subject that is pretty in depth. All in all, a terrific and educational read.

Excellent historical review of the topic, written more like an adventure novel than a technical resource. Really shows the evolution in cryptography/cryptanalysis through the ages.

Would love an update, but I guess that's the nature of the topic.

Great book. I have been teaching various branches of applied mathematics (cryptography included) for 50 years.
During those 50 years I met perhaps half-a-dozen of books of the same class. Interesting, witty, clear. If you don't know it yet don't waste your time.

Singh does a great job of keeping the reader involved in a storyline as well as presenting some fairly intense logic and math theories. If you're looking to get your head around the ideas of crypto, this book rocks.

Good history of cryptography and cryptanalysis. I found the book very informative and engagingly written. I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about ciphers in a historical perspective.

American readers may be surprised as the history begins with a focus towards the Middle East and knowledgeable inclusion of advances originating in Islam cultures which was a different approach from most historically-oriented books I've read. It also focuses on contributions made by practitioners from the UK which upend several decades of cultural belief that US practitioners produced key advances such as RSA asymmetrical cryptography and DH key exchange.

It's a really good comprehensive book into the field of cryptography if you're looking for an entertaining and enlightening read on the historic and methodology in codebreaking I reccommend getting this :)

Complex subject related in a clear and concise manner. Your not going to become a cryptographer with this book but you will have a clearer understanding of its history and the many facets of the subject.

I really enjoyed this book, although this may not be for everyone. Particularly, i liked the large variety of examples, throughout history, and found that each had just the right amount of detail to provide a basic understanding.

This book helped me master a project I was undertaking on the subject of Encryption Techniques. It gave me supplemental knowledge in an area that I knew little about. Overall, an insightful and informative look into the many details of codes created around the world~~and also an interesting read for almost anyone.

The author provides a well researched, comprehensive history of codes and some additional interesting history. It was an excellent read that filled in many of the gaps in my knowledge about Enigma and other coding systems.

This is an incredible book that walks the reader through the history of Cryptography in a form that is very easy and enjoyable to read. It stays at a pretty high level through most of the book but has enough technical detail to really help the reader understand the cryptograhic methods. This book has motivated me to continue my study of Cryptography.

Very interesting and easy to read. I enjoyed the historic introduction to different ciphers. It is a good starting point as it does not get all technical but has some clear examples for every cipher as well as some challenges at the end of the book.

The book is well written and covers a very interesting subject of how and why cryptography has evolved over the years. It gives some good perspectives that can even be considered with respect to modern security paradigms and solutions.

I heard great things about this book before I bought it, and I wasn't disappointed.
The book is extremely readable, interesting and informational. I have re-read it a second
time just to pickup all the information presented.

if you are a novice cryptoanalyst, I highly recommend this book.