The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers from Ancient Egypt to Online Secret Societies is a 2017 book by American mathematician and cryptologist Craig P. Bauer.
The book received positive reviews from critics and readers, who praised its engaging style, comprehensive coverage, and intriguing content.
Chapter 4 examines the case of the Zodiac Killer, a notorious serial murderer who taunted the police and the public with cryptic messages.
The chapter also discusses other criminal cases involving encryption, such as the Masked Man (Germany) and the disappearance of Susan Powell (USA).
The third case is that of Paul Rubin, who died of cyanide poisoning in 1953, leaving behind a note with a series of letters and numbers that have never been deciphered.
Bauer conducted extensive research on the Rubin case, uncovering new facts and documents that shed light on his life and death.
In chapter 8, the book focuses on one of the most enduring challenge ciphers in the history of cryptography, presented by Joseph O. Mauborgne, a prominent U.S. cryptologist, in 1915.
The author addresses a few classic examples, such as the D’Agapeyeff challenge, Feynman cryptograms, Chinese gold bar ciphers, Shugborough inscription, and Kryptos sculpture.
In addition to the Voynich Manuscript, which was discussed in the first chapter, the book analyzes two other prominent examples of this category: James Hampton's notebook and the Codex Rohonci.
The review also notes some drawbacks, such as the varying level of mathematical knowledge required and the omission of some notable examples of decipherment of ancient scripts.
[3] The review by Peter Dabbene in Foreword magazine praises the book as fascinating and appealing to both newcomers and experienced code breakers.
The review suggests that readers that prefer to avoid darker topics such as description of serial murder cases can skip some chapters, but still be entertained by fun tales of spycraft, buried treasure and secret societies.
[4] The review in Cryptologia by Klaus Schmeh, a German computer scientist and crypto history blogger, praises Unsolved!
Schmeh commends Bauer for his extensive research, his captivating writing style, and his coverage of both classic and modern cipher mysteries.