The secret life of Bletchley Park
by Sinclair McKay · first published 2011
3mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2014–2023first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
"At the secret codebreaking centre of Bletchley Park, debutantes, factory workers, students and Wrens were thrown together with Britain's most brilliant brains, united in work of almost unbearable intensity, and even greater importance. But there was far more to their days (and nights) than the long hours spent decrypting enemy messages. From world-class concerts by visiting musicians and amateur dramatics to ice-skating on the frozen lake and furtive romances sealed down quiet country lanes, Sinclair McKay's acclaimed book reveals what life was really like for the young people whose clandesti
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I remember The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay being very interesting, and that was my first real introduction to Bletchley Park.
on “‘She played it down’: Bletchley Park codebreaker dies at 99” ↗…nonfiction too. Cryptonomicon is one of my all-time favourite books, but I feel by focusing on it alone it's a little bit of a disservice to the reality of Bletchley. The Secret Lives of Codebreakers and The Secret Life of Bletchley Park are both great reads, both by Sinclair MacKay, and Hodges' Turing biography is fascinating and, as we all know, heartbreaking in the end. Bletchley wasn't just about Turing, though he certainly deserves…
on “Bletchley Park – Google Search” ↗"not more than 2 identical characters in a row"? WTF? Stop with this nonsense. This is OT, but there's an interesting snippet in "The Secret Life of Bletchley Park" [1] about decoding Enigma messages used by the Italian Navy in the Med. One of the female operators had a set of messages from one Italian operator who sent a message once a week on a regular basis.…
on “Authentication Cheat Sheet” ↗