Battle of Wits
Book description
Drawing from newly declassified documents, the author chronicles the story of codebreaking during the last world war, from cat-and-mouse games with Nazi U-boats to the invasion of Normandy.
Why read it?
2 authors picked Battle of Wits as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
It is hard to underestimate the significance of code breaking during World War II. Without the work of dedicated mathematicians, linguists, and others the great conflicts such as the Battle of Midway and the German U-boat "wolfpacks" that sank over 13 million tons of Allied supplies could have easily been up for grabs. But due to the codebreakers the balance shifted to the Allies. And what is even equally impressive is that the Axis powers never knew that their encoded messages were being read. Stephen Budiansky traces how the codebreakers pulled off this feat while at the same time often…
From Mark's list on how to break things (encryption, passwords, etc.).
A brilliant book that draws on millions of pages of British and U.S. documents released in the 1990s. Battle of Wits tell the amazing story of how Allied code-breaking success made it possible read the intentions of German and Japanese commanders – and led to victory. Budiansky has great story-telling abilities, so this is a terrific read even for non-buffs.
From Robbyn's list on American code-breaking in World War II.
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