Under The Microscope

THE CODE BOOK by Simon Singh; Fourth Estate Ltd 1999; 402pp; $45.00

Reviewed by Vicki Hyde

There were two reasons why I had to read this book. One was for the discussion of the cipher which ultimately sent Mary Queen of Scots to her death. The other was, because having just finished Neal Stephenson's excellent Cryptonomicon, I wanted to know more about cryptography and codes in general.

Singh covers a broad range of areas, looking at archaeologically important decipherings as well as those that have contributed to military and political maneouverings. You may occasionally feel that he's repeating something you've already grasped but frankly, given the subject, a little repetition does no harm. The extensive Appendices help provide extra meat for the numerically challenged, so to speak.

Although codes and ciphers have had a long military history, it is in the world of ecommerce that they have really taken off in recent years. Singh explains the background and developments that led to one man's code being declared another man's munition, and the ramifications this had for how we transfer data around the world. It's every bit as fascinating as the desperate battle of wits between Mary and Queen Elizabeth's spymaster Walsingham.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.