'The Code Book on CD-ROM'

• about Plus
• support Plus
• Plus sponsors
• subscribe to Plus
• terms of use

search plus with google

• home
• latest issue
• news
• careers library
• podcasts
• browse Plus

© 1997-2009, Millennium Mathematics Project, University of Cambridge.

Permission is granted to print and copy this page on paper for non-commercial use. For other uses, including
electronic redistribution, please contact us.

Do you know what's good for you?

Understand the maths behind health and medicine

Read the latest and join the debate!

Issue 26 September 2003
Contents
Features
Imaging maths - Inside the Klein bottle
A conversation with Freeman Dyson
Beckham in his prime number
Finding order in chaos
Career interview
Career interview: Architect
Regulars
Plus puzzle
Editorial
Outer space
Reviews
Two books about primes
'Just six numbers'
'A short history of nearly everything'
'The Code Book on CD-ROM'

1
 'The Code Book on CD-ROM'
All the latest news
Subscribe to our free newsletter
Subscribe to the Plus podcast:

+iTunes
Subscribe to our RSS feed:

Get your own copy of all the Plus posters!

September 2003
Reviews

'The Code Book on CD-ROM'

reviewed by Cristina Escoda

The Code Book on CD-ROM

The Code Book on CD-ROM, by author Simon Singh and designer Nick Mee, is the interactive version of the
best-selling book of the same title. Singh has already shown in The Code Book and Fermat's Last Theorem
that he is an excellent communicator, able to explain complex ideas without using obscure jargon. But while
the main achievement of The Code Book is to make codes and ciphers intelligible to everybody, the CD goes
further and allows you to become a code builder and code breaker yourself. You will find yourself first
turning into a code builder, fearful of being cracked, and then into a dedicated code breaker, following tips on
how to crack the ciphers.

The material progresses from the simplest and oldest ciphers in history, such as codes built by transposition
and substitution techniques, through encoding tools used in the Middle Ages, right up to the encryption
methods used on the internet and the current issues of public secrecy and quantum cryptography. In each of
the five sections, Singh tells a fascinating story about the history of codes. He explains how the Rosetta Stone
helped historians to decode the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and how the course of history was altered by the
cracking of a telegram in the First World War. Each section is accompanied by video clips providing visual
explanations and interviews with experts, and there are also several animations and programs. You see how
the codes were built and then later cracked - for example, there is a virtual Enigma cipher machine and an
explanation of how it was cracked.

The CD can be regarded either as an instructive extension to the book or as a self-contained interactive
introduction to codes and ciphers. Some sections refer to chapters and pages in the book. There are also links
to various websites and to previous chapters, allowing the user to refresh ideas learnt in earlier sections. In the
main section there are several extra tools, with puzzles to be solved and encryption tools to print out and use
to encode your own messages. There is also a section for teachers, with worksheets and notes, and a section
for junior codebreakers with code emulators. Anyone interested in the history, development and construction
of ciphers will find it very useful and inspiring, and it is bound to stimulate the interest of young people in
mathematics and logic games.

The CD is easy to run and install, but can only be used on PCs. It only costs £5, with big discounts on
multiple orders and for schools, and can be ordered online at the author's website, where you can also find

'The Code Book on CD-ROM' 2

 'The Code Book on CD-ROM'
up-to-date information on current and future projects related to The Code Book.

CDROM details:
Simon Singh and Nick Mee
CD-ROM
available from www.simonsingh.net/The_CDROM.html

Download PDF version | Printer friendly version

Return to article

• contact
• copyright info
• sponsors
• privacy info

Plus is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project, which also includes the NRICH
and MOTIVATE sites.

The Code Book on CD-ROM 3