A collection of illuminating essays by the men and women who were part of one of the greatest crypta.n.a.lytic achievements in history.
Smith, Michael, Station X Station X (London: Channel 4 Books, 1999). (London: Channel 4 Books, 1999).
The book based on the British Channel 4 TV series of the same name, containing anecdotes from those who worked at Bletchley Park, otherwise known as Station X.
Harris, Robert, Enigma Enigma (London: Arrow, 1996). (London: Arrow, 1996).
A novel revolving around the codebreakers at Bletchley Park.
Chapter 5.
Paul, Doris A., The Navajo Code Talkers The Navajo Code Talkers (Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance, 1973). (Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance, 1973).
A book devoted to ensuring that the contribution of the Navajo code talkers is not forgotten.
McClain, S., The Navajo Weapon The Navajo Weapon (Boulder, CO: Books Beyond Borders, 1994). (Boulder, CO: Books Beyond Borders, 1994).
A gripping account that covers the entire story, written by a woman who has spent much time talking to the men who developed and used the Navajo code.
Pope, Maurice, The Story of Decipherment The Story of Decipherment (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975). (London: Thames & Hudson, 1975).
A description of various decipherments, from Hitt.i.te hieroglyphs to the Ugaritic alphabet, aimed at the layperson.
Davies, W.V., Reading the Past: Egyptian Hieroglyphs Reading the Past: Egyptian Hieroglyphs (London: British Museum Press, 1997). (London: British Museum Press, 1997).
Part of an excellent series of introductory texts published by the British Museum. Other authors in the series have written books on cuneiform, Etruscan, Greek inscriptions, Linear B, Maya glyphs, and runes.
Chadwick, John, The Decipherment of Linear B The Decipherment of Linear B (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
A brilliant description of the decipherment.
Chapter 6.
Data Encryption Standard, FIPS Pub. 461 (Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, 1987).
The official DES doc.u.ment.
Diffie, Whitfield, and h.e.l.lman, Martin, "New directions in cryptography," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. IT-22 (November 1976), pp. 64454.
The cla.s.sic paper that revealed Diffie and h.e.l.lman's discovery of key exchange, opening the door to public key cryptography.
Gardner, Martin, "A new kind of cipher that would take millions of years to break," Scientific American Scientific American, vol. 237 (August 1977), pp. 12024.
The article which introduced RSA to the world.
h.e.l.lman, M.E., "The mathematics of public key cryptography," Scientific American Scientific American, vol. 241 (August 1979), pp. 13039.
An excellent overview of the various forms of public key cryptography. Schneier, Bruce, Applied Cryptography Applied Cryptography (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996) (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996) An excellent survey of modern cryptography. A definitive, comprehensive, and authoritative introduction to the subject.
Chapter 7.
Zimmermann, Philip R., The Official PGP User's Guide The Official PGP User's Guide (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996). (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996).
A friendly overview of PGP, written by the man who developed it.
Garfinkel, Simson, PGP: Pretty Good Privacy PGP: Pretty Good Privacy (Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & a.s.sociates, 1995). (Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & a.s.sociates, 1995).
An excellent introduction to PGP and the issues surrounding modern cryptography.
Bamford, James, The Puzzle Palace The Puzzle Palace (London: Penguin, 1983). (London: Penguin, 1983).
Inside the National Security Agency, America's most secret intelligence organization.
Koops, Bert-Jaap, The Crypto Controversy The Crypto Controversy (Boston, MA: Kluwer, 1998). (Boston, MA: Kluwer, 1998).
An excellent survey of the impact of cryptography on privacy, civil liberty, law enforcement and commerce.
Diffie, Whitfield, and Landau, Susan, Privacy on the Line Privacy on the Line (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998). (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998).
The politics of wiretapping and encryption.
Chapter 8.
Deutsch, David, The Fabric of Reality The Fabric of Reality (London: Allen Lane, 1997). (London: Allen Lane, 1997).
Deutsch devotes one chapter to quantum computers, in his attempt to combine quantum physics with the theories of knowledge, computation and evolution.
Bennett, C. H., Bra.s.sard, C., and Ekert, A., "Quantum Cryptography," Scientific American Scientific American, vol. 269 (October 1992), pp. 2633.
A clear explanation of the evolution of quantum cryptography.
Deutsch, D., and Ekert, A., "Quantum computation," Physics World Physics World, vol. 11, no. 3 (March 1998), pp. 3356.
One of four articles in a special issue of Physics World Physics World. The other three articles discuss quantum information and quantum cryptography, and are written by leading figures in the subject. The articles are aimed at physics graduates and give an excellent overview of the current state of research.