Like countless other easy code books, this tells you the difference between codes and ciphers, includes examples of different varieties of each, gives directions for making invisible inks, and falls in with some riddles (coded answers) and relevant historical tidbits. The differences here are the breezy mod pictures that keep it looking light, the similarly unprepossessing format, and the nifty dispatch of the anecdotes. This is far less complicated and comprehensive than Martin Gardner's Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing (KR, 1972), which remains first choice at this level, but the fun-and-games approach could snare less serious code breakers.