The Secret Lives of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park

Enjoyed this book much. Not for those who want to delve into the hard core scientific intricacies.. But wonderful overview of the people, relationships, achievements and the war too.

Bletchley Park, that complex of buildings called huts surrounding a mid-nineteenth century mansion in Buckinghamshire, 50 miles north of London, was a place where the secret communications of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan were decoded and then used to win the wars in Europe and the Pacific. As President Dwight Eisenhower maintained, Bletchley's success shortened the war by two years. And Professor Sir Harry Hinsley, an eminent historian and Bletchley Park veteran, says that the figure is more like three years. George Steiner, a notable critic and essayist, claims that the work done at Bletchley was one of "the greatest achievements of the twentieth century."There have been many books written about the breaking of the codes and even a play by Hugh Whitemore staring Derek Jacobi, which I had the good fortune of seeing on Broadway, with the title: Breaking the Code. Yet what was life like at Bletchley while the codebreakers were working there? This book, entitled The Secret Life of Codebreakers: The Men and Women Who Cracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay, tries and succeeds at documenting the answer to that question.Mathematicians, linguists, engineers, cryptographers, classical scholars, game experts, crossword fanatics, and administrative types were some of the more than nine thousand who worked at Bletchley Park in the war effort. McKay interviewed many, recorded their recollections about life at the Park, and included letters and notes that he obtained. He also went into the secrecy surrounding the Park, which was phenomenally successful considering that one slip and the whole enterprise would have been exposed to the enemy. Strangely enough, it was the casualness of the environment and the "all are equal" mindset that helped to keep the secrets.There are mundane sections in the book, which is why I'm giving it four stars instead of five. An editor was needed to weed out the lackluster parts. Yet, in the many un-mundane sections, you will be amazed at the character traits and fascinating anecdotes of the famous and not-so-famous codebreakers and their support staffs and leaders. Alan Turing, the computer genius, being a famous one. In fact, those in Hut 8 responsible for the breaking of many of the codes "felt that the magnitude of Turing's contribution was never fully realized by the outside world." In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologized for Alan Turing's prosecution for homosexuality after the war and praised his involvement in "Britain's fight against the darkness of dictatorship... Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind...it is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present." There were other less-well-known heroes profiled in this book, one by the name of Tommy Flowers who was the engineering genius behind the apparatuses called Colossus machines needed to decrypt the Enigma communications.Noted historian Max Hastings remarked about this book: "A portrait of one of the most remarkable brain factories the world has ever seen." I agree and recommend it. Only wish that the boring bits were deleted, but that's a minor quibble.

Excellent book for people who grew up during WW11, including veterans, and for those who did not, and for students.Refresher course on history and the many secrets history may purposely hide.Great lessons, on so many levels. The invention of the first computer. Men and women who could never reveal that actually they were defending their country and not just lazing about and passing time in a country setting playing golf, chess and tennis. And all ages, including teenagers, and all backgrounds were recruited, for their individual talents, to secretly break codes. I have given this book, as a gift, to not only senior citizens but also college students & graduate students. "How did they keep the secret for so long?" The young readers are enthralled w/the idea that everyone was working "elbow to elbow" breaking codes, night & day, at the same time, while unbeknownst to them, the first trial or prototype of the first computer, was being created; and their parents/spouses had no idea what they were doing. Code breaker, returned home, for dying Father & he told his son...how completely useless he was...because he did not join up w/military...and still, this Codebreaker would not break the British Official Secrets Act. Many very good books available on the subject of the Codebreakers, I suggest that you start with this book.

This is not all about codes and machines. Rather it is a delicious, gossipy account of a small cadre of brilliant men and women that grew into an army of 11,000 in the rarified environment of super-secret Bletchley Park. Who were they? How were they chosen? What happened when they first arrived? Here are vivid descriptions of the horrifically intense work environment, perpetual fear of German invasion, the food, the romances and the fascinating juxtaposition of aristocrats and high society working elbow-to-elbow with East London cockneys and bumpkins from the Scottish highlands. Plus wonderful stories—such as Churchill’s visit and the James Bond-like-caper dreamed up by none other than Bond creator Ian Fleming. Here, too, are vivid portraits of the brilliant, quirky leaders, Alan Turing, Alastair Denniston, Dilly Knox, Gordon Welchman and so many more. If you plan on seeing The Imitation Game (in theaters Christmas Day, 2014), I urge you to read this first. I loved it! You will too.

This book is more a social history of the time and place, Bletchley Park, than the actual business of codebreaking that went on there. Within this focus, the book is interesting, and contains many interviews with men and women who spent the war there, almost self-contained within the grounds. While references to the war itself are present, this book really does not assess the impact of the work of the codebreakers on the unfolding war itself in other than a passing way.If you're interested in individual's daily life during WWII, this book will interest you. Serious students of the ebb and flow of the war itself would be better served by other works.

A thoroughly interesting book and a recommended read.

I really enjoyed this book... after watching the Bletchley Circle, it piqued my interest for some more info.It seemed like a pretty good look into what was going on there, and some of the folks themselves...I find it amazing that they were able to keep it such a secret! highly doubtful that such a secret could be kept these days~

Great read, they never received the accolades they deserved. Amazing people, kinda renewed my faith in people.

fascinating - well written and researched - gives credit where due - and opens up the experience of these wonder people and their secret work during world war II. thanks

Insightful