The Code Book
The Code Book by Simon Singhby Simon Singh
Shares rank 26 of 50 popular science books by recommenders
Recommended as an excellent introduction to cryptography and the history of ciphers; the same author's other books are also praised.
Recommended as an excellent introduction to cryptography and the history of ciphers; the same author's other books are also praised.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Excellent introduction to cryptography
“Excellent introduction to cryptography.”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Solving Fermat: Andrew Wiles” History of ciphers and their maths
“history of the maths of ciphers”
Comment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem” Other books by same author
“are also great books by the same author”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Formalizing Fermat's Last Theorem”
Other popular science books people recommend
The four most recommended other popular science books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gödel, Escher, Bachby Douglas R. Hofstadter | 47 | 10 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman | 17 | 13 | 57% | 9 | — | — |
| Thinking in Systemsby Donella H. Meadows and Diana Wright | 17 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Selfish Geneby Richard Dawkins | 14 | 5 | 74% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Code Bookby Simon SinghThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
3 of the 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“are also great books by the same author”
“history of the maths of ciphers”
“Excellent introduction to cryptography.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.