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The Woman Who Smashed Codes

a True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies
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1 to 22 of 22 items
Nov 30, 2023barkisaz rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A Smashing good book. Well written, fascinating topic and about two brilliant people. I am envious of them: when they retired, they deliberately moved to a place close to two libraries. Heaven.
Mar 22, 2023ch3rnych3rny rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I really wanted to like this book as it is a very interesting subject but I could not get past the middle of it. I found the book bogged down with pages of detailed individual cryptoanalysis, analyses that perhaps would have been better…
Sep 23, 2022shirleydudley rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Very interesting read, learning more about this time in our history and the woman that was a part of it.
Apr 21, 2022thinktreez rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Great to get to know women have been there but have been invisible to our history books. This woman was ever as important as Edison!
Apr 08, 2022Gareldb rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
Somehow I managed to finish this book. It seems to be a poorly written biography wrapped around an extremely boring history of cryptology. Part of the biography consists of reading her insecure husband's love letters written in baby talk…
Jan 09, 2022ANN M SORENSON rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
It is a very interesting history of WWII and the complexities of the life of our country.
Apr 01, 2021criticallyminded rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I listened to the first couple chapters of the audiobook. I was intrigued by Elizebeth's story / work / contributions to history. And I really like the narrator, Cassandra Campbell. I was super frustrated by the long description about the…
Mar 27, 2021Suereads_2 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly compelling! Fascinating perspective of turn of the century history and war. Jason Fagone does a terrific job of blending the infancy of cryptology in our country to that of current day.
Feb 17, 2021MT60 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Stayed up too late a few nights because I could not put this suspenseful book down. I won't attempt to say anything different from what other positive reviewers already have written. One of the best biographies I have ever read because of…
Jan 28, 2021
PBS American Experience The Codebreaker
Feb 13, 2020bceccoli rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Great story covering her early life in IL, WW1 and WWII. Elizabeth was truly a remarkable codebreaker. From her beginnings as a virtual serf for a wealthy businessman, to meeting her future husband, to growing into the most effective…
Dec 16, 2019
In 1916 Elizebeth Smith wanted an interesting job but not a typical woman's job. She was hired to find clues to support the theory that Shakespeare's plays weren't written by Shakespeare. But when America entered WWI, the US military…
Nov 15, 2019INVS rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A satisfying read that gave me so much more intricate details, specifically about this hateful ideology in South America. After years of reading this subject and watching documentaries I never realized how close it was to the US. There…
Apr 05, 2019CMcC rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Mrs. Friedman's story changes my viewpoint as I read other WWII books and articles. What haven't we been told about the intelligence behind the decisions made to fight the war? How much did the hidden story influence and direct the told…
Oct 17, 2018ontherideau rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Remarkable story of a remarkable woman and her husband.
Oct 11, 2018DanglingConversations rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I am sure the book is well researched but the story line is disjointed and there are too many bifurcations into the lives of supporting characters. Stick with the life of Elizabeth and her accomplishments. Also the technical detail into…
Apr 15, 2018mammothhawk229e rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
While her husband cracked "unbreakable" cypher machines peddled by fly by night businessmen & reverse engineering Japan's Purple, Elizebeth hired by Coast guard for Treasury department consisted of prohibition bureau, Narcotics bureau,…
Feb 26, 2018TheresaAJ rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This fast-paced book explores the life of Elizebeth Smith Friedman who pioneered and worked in the Cryptanalytic Unit of the United States Coast Guard for almost forty years. Her husband, William Friedman, considered her an equal in the…
Feb 19, 2018scandora rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Excellent, excellent. Easy to read (as the author says, you don't need to understand code to appreciate what Elizebeth did--yes, correct spelling of her name) and hard to put down. I didn't find it at all confusing as another reviewer…
Feb 12, 2018Jenkskitten rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Reads more like a history book than a novel. Techniques on codebreaking given and how that career takes your life. Many details of other people are also included. Not much a story line that flows. Jumps back and forth from present to…
Jan 20, 2018EmilyEm rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Fagone tells quite a story about Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband William who work on the front lines of defense unraveling codes during the two World Wars and lay the groundwork for the field of cryptology. Reads like a…
Nov 11, 2017knitter2248 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What an eye opener. So little has been published about our skilled cryptanalysts, mostly because they were never allowed to share any information about their roles in code breaking, but also because Hoover claimed all of their successes as…