Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing
Paul E. Kennedy (Cover Design) New York, N.Y. Dover Publications, Inc., 1984. Reprint. Originally published in New York by Simon & Schuster. Trade paperback. 96 pages. Illustrations. Cover has some wear. Includes Introduction. Also includes chapters on Easy Transposition Ciphers; Easy Substitution Ciphers; How to Break Substitution Ciphers; Hard-to-break Polyalphabetic Ciphers; Simple Code Machines; Invisible Writing; Bizarre Methods of Message Sending; and Codes for Other Worlds. Also contains References for Further Reading. Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914 – May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer, with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literature—especially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton. He was also a leading authority on Lewis Carroll. The Annotated Alice, which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and was regarded as one of the most important magicians of the twentieth century. He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books. Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematics—and by extension, mathematics in general—throughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his "Mathematical Games" columns. These appeared for twenty-five years in Scientific American, and his subsequent books collecting them. The main purpose of this book is to teach readers how to use the most important codes, and other methods of secret communication that have been invented since ancient times. A selected list of references at the end of the book will provide more reading material about the unusual techniques that have been employed for making ciphers, and for breaking ciphers used by others. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Codes, Ciphers, Secret Writing, Transposition, Substitution, Code Machines, Polyalphabetic, Invisible Writing, Message Sending, Espionage, Spies, Cryptography
ISBN: 0486247619
[Book #81350]
Price: $25.00