The book In Code has a nice down to earth feel, which is surprising, since it is about cryptography. The book summarizes Sarah Flannery’s journey from learning puzzles as a child to creating the Cayley-Purser (CP) algorithm at the age of 16. The CP algorithm created by Sarah won her both the Ireland’s Young Scientist of the Year award and European Young Scientist of the Year.
The writing is outstanding and the mathematical explanations are detailed and focused. Anyone with a basic understanding of algebra and natural numbers should be able to follow this book. Most of the math in the book can be visualized via the authors real world examples or given puzzles. When it can’t be quickly visualized the author goes into a mock dialog with you which is helpful.
For example, when explaining “To convert C-numbers (C = cyphertext) back to their original P-counterpars (P = plaintext), multiply them by 21 modulo 26. You: Did you say multiply? Surely there must be a division involved somewhere. And where does this magical number 21 come from?”
They go on to explain everything in a back and forth conversational “You Me” format. Very informative and easy to follow. I’m not giving it justice in my explination but I hope you get the point.
I thought this was a great book. Amazing for the math layman like myself. Really got me excited about cryptography and the arithmetic involved. I think this might be a good read for parents who are worried about their children not getting enough math skills in school. The book provides a way to teach people math in a non confrontational and interesting way.