Historical and Popular Books
- The Codebreakers, David Kahn, Sribner, 1996.
(Comprehensive history of cryptology.)
- Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945, Leo Marks, Free
Press, 2000. (Cliffhanger account of Marks code-making work for British spies in
Europe; compelling reading. Check out interview
with Marks)
- The American Black Chamber, Yardley, Aegean Park Press.
(Yardley was in charge of the American Black chamber which existed from 1917 to
1929. There also is a recent biography of Yardley by David Kahn entitled The
Reader of Gentlemen's Mail).
- The Code Book, Simon Singh, Anchor, 2000. (Popular historical
account of cryptology, with a fair amount of technical detail.)
- The Cuckoo's Egg, Cliff Stoll, Pocket Books, 1990. (Real life account of
Stoll tracking down a hacker. Better than James Bond.)
-
Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson, Harper, 2000.
(Occasionally long-winded novel, containing accurate technical details.)
- The Man Who Broke Purple, Ronald Clark, Little Brown, 1977. (Biography of
William Friedman, the father of modern American cryptography, and the story of
how he broke Purple.)
- The Puzzle Palace, James Bamford, Viking, 1983. (The
early history of the National Security Agency (NSA)).
-
The Shadow Factory,
James Bamford, Random House, 2009. (Bamford continues his story of the NSA
post 9/11).
Other