Encyclopedia of Cryptology

Since the beginning of recorded history, secrecy has been essential to the exercise of power, and secret messages — from military communications to financial transactions — are its stock in trade. Battles have been won and lost, fortunes created and destroyed, and political power seized and undermined — all because of secret messages successfully sent or successfully intercepted.

The Encyclopedia of Cryptography explores the role of secret writing in many of history's decisive moments, such as the Teapot Dome scandal and the election of President Rutherford B. Hayes. It also traces the development of technologies from the fourth century B.C.E. to the present, including such ingenious inventions as

• invisible ink, first used by Thomas Jefferson and used in his secret correspondence with James Madison
• the microdot, developed by the Germans in the 1930s, which reduced a document to a speck small enough to masquerade as the dot over a letter "i" in a seemingly innocent piece of correspondence
• The mathematical systems if dizzying complexity used in today's electronic warfare

This comprehensive volume also thoroughly examines cryptology's role in more peaceful, scholarly pursuits. Linguists used cryptanalytical techniques to decipher Egyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics. Writers, from Chaucer to Poem have woven codes and ciphers into their poetry and prose. Nearly 500 cryptographic allusions have been identified in the works of Dante, and even the Bible contains several examples of cryptography.

Most fascinating of all are the codes an ciphers that have defied the best minds and most sophisticated technologies for centuries — like the fifteenth-century Voynich manuscript, known as "the world's most mysterious manuscript". Once owned by Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, it is reputed to contain an enciphered formula for the elixir of youth. Or the Beale ciphers — three ciphers that give directions to a fortune in gold hidden somewhere in Virginia nearly 200 years ago. Both remain unsolved mysteries — cases left for the readers of this volume to crack.

• Encyclopedia of Cryptology
• Appendix: Data Encryption Standard

Interesting if you work within the subject.