# The Code Book by Simon Singh

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Code Book by Simon Singh and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as an excellent introduction to cryptography and the history of ciphers; the same author's other books are also praised.

## Why people recommend it

- Excellent introduction to cryptography (1 comments): "Excellent introduction to cryptography." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49084764))
- History of ciphers and their maths (1 comments): "history of the maths of ciphers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569631))
- Other books by same author (1 comments): "are also great books by the same author" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599285))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/g-del-escher-bach.md): 47 recommend
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-fast-and-slow.md): 17 recommend
- [Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/thinking-in-systems.md): 17 recommend
- [The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/selfish-gene.md): 14 recommend
- [Cosmos by Carl Sagan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cosmos.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1841154962?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781841154961) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Code Book by Simon Singh", https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-book/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).