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CRYPTOGRAPHY

Name: CRYPTOGRAPHY
Author: Keith Martin
ISBN: 978-1-324-00429-5

THE KEY TO DIGITAL SECURITY, HOW IT WORKS, AND WHY IT MATTERS

by Keith Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2020

Tech-savvy readers will come away with a greater appreciation for the science involved in keeping secrets from prying eyes.

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If Napoleon had had better passwords, you might be reading this in French today.

Computers may be new, historically speaking, but cryptography is as old as writing. Martin, a British professor of information security who wrote one of the standard texts on the topic, Everyday Cryptography, delivers numerous examples of failed codes from the past, including one that cost Julius Caesar dearly and another that essentially sent Napoleon packing to Saint Helena. On the matter of that Napoleonic code, Martin writes that it was “designed to counter frequency analysis” by blending plain text letters into “ciphertext” along with “masking common letter combinations using dummy characters.” As with much that is technological, operator error ruined a good thing: The soldiers entrusted with the job encrypted only parts of the French military’s communications, and the British soon decoded “La Grande Chiffre de Paris.” Every code will eventually be broken, and passwords like “password” and “god123” are going to be cracked in a second. In this survey, Martin gives readers the essentials of cryptography without much by way of the underlying numbers even though cryptography is, strictly speaking, a branch of mathematics. Even though “you can breeze through life using cryptography without even being aware of it,” courtesy of the algorithms hidden away on your bank site and in your smartphone, it’s better to know a little about the devices and formulas by which messages go from one place to another without being intercepted and decoded. The author’s text, while readable and indeed even elementary at times (“ASCII…defines the rules for switching between keyboard characters and bits”), requires a high tolerance for nerdspeak and the ability to deal with terms such as “transport layer security” and “challenge-response” without immediately dozing off. Regardless, it’s highly informative and offers a good argument for hardening one’s digital security.

Tech-savvy readers will come away with a greater appreciation for the science involved in keeping secrets from prying eyes.

Pub Date: May 19, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-324-00429-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.