Preface -- How can I break an encrypted message? And other introductory questions -- The Caesar cipher -- Simple substitution ciphers -- Simple substitution ciphers without spaces between words: Patristocrats -- Simple substitution ciphers in non-English languages -- Homophonic ciphers -- Codes and nomenclators -- Polyalphabetic ciphers -- Complete columnar transposition ciphers -- Incomplete columnar transposition ciphers -- Turning grille transposition ciphers -- Digraph substitution -- Abbreviation ciphers -- Dictionary codes and book ciphers -- Additional encryption methods -- Solving ciphers with hill climbing -- What next? -- Appendix A: Kryptos -- Appendix B: Useful language statistics -- Appendix C: Glossary -- Appendix D: Morse code -- Appendix E: Figure sources -- Appendix F: References -- Index

"Teaches how to break encrypted texts, whether by hand or using free computer tools. Covers specific cryptographic techniques and includes real-life examples of encrypted text, from modern postcards to nineteenth-century newspaper ads, telegrams, notes smuggled into prisons, and entire encrypted books"--