Source: www.schneier.com – Author: Bruce Schneier
Comments
sam •
I too was first intrigued by Kahn’s The Codebreakers. I feel for his family; it makes me lonely to lose someone who I have only ever read. I believe that your early edition of Applied Cryptography was the follow-up to The Codebreakers. Stay healthy!
Clive Robinson •
@ Bruce, ALL,
Re : First Book.
“His groundbreaking book, The Codebreakers was the first serious book I read about codebreaking, and one of the primary reasons I entered this field.”
David Kahn wrote in that book, how he became immersed in the subject.
It was with the gentle guidence of a mentor who had not just domain knowledge but a couple of cipher machines, one of which he gave to David so they could communicate, thus David got first hand experience at a time in his life when it realy counted.
Others of us were not as lucky I had neither book nor mentor but insatiable curiosity that rose from finding out how things worked. One such was at an early age teaching myself how to pick locks, not because I wanted to steal something, just curiosity as to why “doors were locked and importantly how”.
A word of caution for others, my insatiable curiosity covered many things and they became “hobbies” these unfortunatly I became so good at they became multiple professions of which I was at the leading edge.
Whilst this might sound a good thing, it means you loose a “free hobby” to a “constrained job”. Not always a wise thing to do.
It’s said,
“Every man needs a shed”
That is a place to be free and tinker with hobbies in a way and pace of your own chosing.
For everyone, having hobbies is a necessary part of life to maintain your sanity and even have a curious social life (not all railway enthusiasts wear anoraks nor modlers and engineers have flat caps, but some do, even the ladies 😉
Always make sure you have three hobbies –if not more– one where you are seen by others to be proficient, one where you are developing and one new where you are learning. Thus if your proficiency becomes profession, you still have something to be curious about.
Noone •
So few comments about such a classic is unexpected, unless this is a lesson in Chesterton, Father Brown and Lord Jones. Now, Niklaus Wirth died too a few days ago without too many obituaries either. “Service minimum” for giants. Fortunately for Kahn and Wirth, they’re immortal and will live in books as long as there will be people able to read — immortality is now limited, considering next generations.
La guerre des codes secrets (the French title of a masperized, i.e. incomplete, translation) is a book I’ve reread three or four times with the same pleasure. Time for another one, I guess.
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Original Post URL: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2024/02/david-kahn.html
Category & Tags: Uncategorized,books,cryptanalysis,history of cryptography – Uncategorized,books,cryptanalysis,history of cryptography
