World War II spies
modern spies
Ciphers in novels and movies
Did you know Edgar Allan Poe wrote one novel about ciphers? The Gold-Bug and Other Tales This is a tale about ciphers, which interested Poe tremendously.
Arthur Conan Doyle The Dancing Men. How would you solve a mystery if you got a secret message with dancing figures?
Enigma by Robert Harris Well documented story about the enigma machine, which allowed allies to access the German code. I have heard that the movie is brilliant. On the same theme, ULTRA goes to war by Ronald Lewin was recommeded to me but i did not read it yet.
Ciphers for real
David Kahn The Codebreakers a good and huge historical book: all you need to know to start, if you are a fan of cryprography; if you are just curious, buy the Singh.
Codes Ciphers and Other Cryptic and Clandestine Communication: 400 Ways to Send Secret Messages from Hieroglyphs to the Internet by Fred B Wrixon. Good book size too, I have not read it.
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh. Sweet and short.
Ciphers in history
Roosevelt and Churchill Men of Secrets by David Stafford. I did not read the book but there was a great presentation of it in the New York Times.
Urban, Mark The Man Who Broke Napoleon’s Codes. Not only had Wellington the most healthy seamen (thanks to sauerkraut and lemon juice which prevent scorbut), he also had the best codebreaker. It is fascinating!
George Washington, spymaster: How the Americans outspied the British and won the Revolutionary war by Thomas B. Allen. This is a pretty little book, well printed, well illustrated, and recommended for age 10+, with the accent on the plus, because I really enjoyed it at age 69.
World War II spies
modern spies
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