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The Secret Life Of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre And The Men And Women Who Worked There

This country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to Britain’s most brilliant mathematical brains and the scene of immense advances in technology—indeed, the birth of modern computing. The military codes deciphered there were instrumental in turning both the Battle of the Atlantic and the war in North Africa. McKay's book is the first history for the general reader of life at Bletchley Park, and an amazing compendium of memories from people who were once its habitants—of skating on the frozen lake in the grounds, of the high jinks at nearby accommodation hostels—and of the implacable secrecy that meant girlfriend and boyfriend working in adjacent huts knew nothing about each other’s work. 

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Aurum Press; Reprint edition (August 25, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1845136330

ISBN-13: 978-1845136338

Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches

Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #99,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #86 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional #173 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Military #180 in Books > History > Military > Strategy

Other reviewers have done an admirable job of describing this book's strengths and weaknesses. I think we all agree that this is not a book that is going to satisfy a healthy curiosity about how intelligence was analyzed, how codes were actually broken, nor how the computers were built and worked.So, I hope to challenge readers to post links and brief introductions to the other books that can help us build broader or more detailed understanding of the Second World War's ingenious battle of wits.First: some information for readers outside the U.K. In the U.S. this book is titled The Secret Lives of Codebreakers. What the British refer to as "valves" we Americans know as "vacuum tubes." Similarly "mains" are here referred to as "power supply."A good first look into the Colossus is as close as Wikipedia, and there you will find links that spread out to the completely functional reconstruction of Colossus at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchely Park. From there you can read the story of reconstruction by the engineer who led the project and collaborated with the other original engineers if they were still alive. As this project began in the 1990s most of the key players came on board including Flowers.

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