Picked this one up due to a recommendation from Ars Technica and was not disappointed. Tore through it in a couple days.
This is the story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, wife of pioneering cryptologist and cryptanalyst William Friedman. William Friedman is famously "The Man Who Broke Purple", Japan's WWII cipher machine.
Elizebeth's story is no less compelling and reads at times like a taut, espionage thriller.
In the days before computers, the Friedman's broke complicated codes using pencil, paper and brainpower.
The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies - (
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The book has been optioned for a TV series, which would be pretty cool.