Reviews for Science in the Kitchen (Science Activities)

The average rating for Science in the Kitchen (Science Activities) based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-12 00:00:00 David Hein [ This excellent book provides a fascinating history of codes and codebreaking from ancient Egypt to the modern day. In fact, it goes one step further than present day, and gives us a look at what the future may hold in this field. The author writes about what could have been quite a dry subject with such enthusiasm and in such an engaging way that one can’t help but be drawn in. Before reading this book, I only had a very rudimentary knowledge of cryptography and am very much the layman. Singh explains things so well that you don’t need any prior knowledge of the subject to tackle this book; if I can understand it, anybody can! I’ll definitely be reading more of his work in the future. Some of the topics covered here aren’t technically concerned with codes and codebreaking, but deal with the translation of ancient texts such as hieroglyphics. Ancient dead languages aren’t codes, as such, because they weren’t created with the intention of concealing the contents; quite the opposite, in fact; but they are relevant in that some of the techniques are shared with codebreaking. These chapters actually make for really interesting reading, so it’s a welcome diversion and one that Singh weaves into the rest of the book seamlessly. Be warned, though; reading this book will make you want to delve deeper into the subject matter. Fortunately, the author provides a further reading list at the end of the book, so there are plenty of future delights in store! P.S. If you actually went to the effort of decoding this review, you get a gold star. An imaginary gold star, but still… (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2008-06-06 00:00:00 R T The Code Book is like geek porn. Explanations of the theories behind cryptography are woven together with anecdotes of times when code-making or code-breaking was integral to historical events. Singh strikes an excellent balance with this book. The clarity of his writing makes the explanations of the mathematics of cryptography very straightforward without dumbing them down, and the historical connections are always fascinating. Personally, my favorite part was the section devoted to the role cryptography played in World War II. The cracking of the Enigma at Bletchley Park was probably one of the greatest moments in nerd history. If you're fascinated by puzzles, curious about history, or you want to know what privacy really means in the 21st century, pick up this book. You'll have a hard time putting it down.