Secrets of The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Guide to the Mysteries Behind The Da Vinci Code Sequel

U.S. Version - ISBN 0786717262

UK Version - ISBN 1845293258

Sales flyer (300K)

Released in 2006: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms (UK title The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles), by award-winning code-breaker and game developer Elonka Dunin. This is being billed as the "biggest ever collection of Da Vinci style codes and ciphers," with several hundred paper-and-pencil puzzles, ranging from very easy to fiendishly difficult.

Secret messages, encoded predictions, cryptic clues, never have cryptogram puzzles been so popular, fueled by phenomena such as The Da Vinci Code and The Bible Code. Here is a major new collection of brain-teasing cryptograms and other enciphered challenges to satisfy every level of puzzle aficionado. The Mammoth Book of Secret Code Puzzles contains several hundred encrypted messages, ranging from easy substitution puzzles where each letter stands for another, to fiendishly difficult ciphers using actual wartime methods that were employed by historic figures from Julius Caesar to President John F. Kennedy. This book also includes helpful tips and pointers on how to solve any type of cipher in the book, plus famous unsolved real-world cryptograms such as composer Edward Elgar's Dorabella cipher, the Kryptos fourth section from the center of CIA Headquarters, Emperor Rudolf II's Voynich Manuscript, the Zodiac Killer ciphers, and the 3,500-year-old Phaistos Disk, to ensure that the challenge never ends.

Other special features:

• The complete text of the Beale and Edgar Allan Poe Ciphers, including both their solved and unsolved portions, and the text from the US Declaration of Independence that is required to solve Beale Cipher #2.
• An indexed answer section, with hundreds of plaintext quotes about history, philosophy, classic literature, humor, current events, and many other subjects, including at least one quote from every US President, and every UK Prime Minister going back hundreds of years.
• A section by award-winning puzzle designer Scott Kim, of a pencil-and-paper way to understand high-tech computer "asymmetric key" encryption
• A metapuzzle which is hidden in dozens of clues throughout the book, with prizes for the first solvers.

• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments - See the impressive list of contributors!
• Sample Puzzles
• Errata - Ooops! Check here for corrections.
• Booksignings and conferences
• Press - articles, interviews, and television appearances
• Elonka's blog at Memestreams

Page created: December 9, 2005, last modified February 22, 2010

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