The Code Book

This is the book that got me into cryptography. It's a bit old and outdated now (published in 1999)

"Code Book" by Simon Singh. Genuinely fun and learned a lot.

the code book

I was expecting an extensive collection of different ciphers throughout history with some short historical anectodes to go along with them. But it's really more about a few selected historical applications of encryption with a heavy focus on their historical context.

The Code Book by Simon Singh