Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II

Code Girls

The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II

2017 • 640 pages

Ratings21

Average rating3.9

15

I made a bad choice and decided that I'd start 2019 with a reading unit! I'd read books on real life stories of female spies! It'd be all of my favorite things: underappreciated historic women, cryptography and espionage. The downside is that even the coolest topics get repetitive after awhile, especially if you include a compendium like Code Girls.Look, there's nothing wrong with Code Girls, but similar to other historic compedia (e.g. Radium Girls), it struggles for want of a focus, jumping among characters that it doesn't do enough to differentiate. Juxtaposed with the overlapping [b:The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies 32025298 The Woman Who Smashed Codes A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies Jason Fagone https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479580153s/32025298.jpg 52666460], the shallowness of its approach became readily apparent. This was also very true in its treatment of cryptography – mathy readers be forewarned.I think it's a great intro to the topic, but it didn't hold my interest as someone who already had a strong background in WWII cryptanalysis.

February 27, 2019Report this review