Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency

Although this is a comprehensive history of GCHQ, it is also an easy read. Plenty of photographs too. GCHQ is often the more overlooked member of the three security services with Mi5 the Security service and Mi6 Secrey Intelligence Service. Yet GCHQ is perhaps the one that has the main influence for the general public. In addition to its intelligence gathering it also fights cyber attacks and protect our increasingly cyber dominated life. I thought I was already informed about the work of GCHQ and its NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre), but learnt a great deal from reading this book, realising my existing knowledge was rather limited.

This is a very densely written book - full of acronyms and hopefully, informed detail. Blows some holes in the Enigma mythology - but puts it firmly in the place where it should always have been. However, it also goes into social details as regards numbers of women employed, their social backgrounds, their employment and also their gradual rise in the ranks as societal pressures and backgrounds changed. It is complex - I'm doing about 40 pages a day - and this is a long book - but it is very detailed and takes careful reading to ensure that you fully understand what is happening. Well worth the reading, perhaps it could have been shortened a little - but lets face it - the author is dealing with a difficult and very detailed history. His account of Stuart Hampshire - a philosopy don, being brought in to sort out the management was astonishing to me - and more importantly his obvious competence in dealing with difficult problems in management and structure. Oh, if he were in charge of the Covid Crisis I wonder how much better off we would be now. Anyway- this is a dense but ultimately rewarding book that pulls no punches - but also allows for brilliance to have a light shone where necessary.

This book promises to be fascinating and insightful but, even when one has been reading books on codes and cyphers for many years, it is hard going. Any history that tackles various threads over an extended period is going to be somewhat less than free flowing but this is hard work. The author is a member of the Royal Society or Canada which should have been a clue but I found the use of North American syntax; "never would" instead or "would never" etc. to be distracting. The use of terminology without explanation can also lead one to question one's understanding. I haven't, yet, finished the book but I will keep going if only to see how the author interprets the use of communications intelligence during the second world war. I would say, try not to be put off by the distractions and be prepared to work at it.

This book is a complex study of the subject of the work of trying to find out what other countries policies and tactics are hidden in coded messages that direct not only the way that battles are fought on the Land, Sea, and in the Air, but also those in the murky underworld of business and government departments. It is, at times, quite hard to get to the gist of the infighting between the various military organisations and even the government departments which often don't understand why they are not given the whole picture of why, what, or when certain crucial decisions must be made to counter something that the code breakers suspect is being planned, but to use their own codes to left those who could possibly put in place a counter attack, either by military forces or by disrupting something like a ship, train, or even a convoy of vehicles by using a code to send a fictitious signal that the enemy would decode and believe that they shouldn't continue with some plan, as they might lose some valuable asset of either manpower, or equipment. This is a very interesting book full of the problems involved with intercepting even friendly countries secret codes, to see how they are reacting to some policy change by a friendly country.

Clearly a large amount of information was sifted to create this edition and clearly Ferris struggled to arrange it into logical sections and subsections. The result is that we jump between historical landmark dates repeatedly therefore you can be half way through before you understand the method in his chronology. That said we do have several preconceptions expunged from our minds and memories along with the assumption intelligence is uniquely useful, when it can be effectively nullified by incompetent usage and analysis. If you've looking for headline - making revelations that will shock then prepare to be disappointed. What you do get is a brilliant and detailed synopsis of the people, personalities and politics throughout a century of innovation, drama and world affairs, some of which you will either have forgotten or never been aware of in the first place. For that reason alone it is a must - read.

The dense grammar and haphazard narrative make this book difficult to read and enjoy. What should be a tour de force is spoiled by his writing style. I feel that the author is an expert keen to display his knowledge. It contains a wealth of facts and lots of opinion but lacks cohesion. It is more critical analysis than intelligent narrative. Persevere and you will learn lots about our GCHQ but at a cost.

We are all intrigued with what goes on in secret. This book lets us look behind the covers of GCHQ and it's early predecessors from war to war and in between. A good buy.

I read the reviews and the one that stood out for me was by a Doctor who felt the book was outsitanding This was purchased as a present for our son who has just commissioned and will take up a position with the Royal Corps of Signals ,and we felt it may be of use to him in the future. He has a lot of deep books to read so we’re not expecting him to read it any time soon but as and when.

Good condition, got what I paid for

Vient couronner une longue série d'ouvrages sur le sujet (Enigma, GCHQ, renseignement et cryptopgraphie) Mais ne se limite plus à la seule Seconde guerre mondiale et couvre une période beaucoup plus récente, après être remonté aux origines, dès le début du XXe siècle ! Ouvrage majeur sur le sujet...

Gostei bastante do trabalho apresentado

A true must read for those that follow the crypto world. Well researched. Well written. Furst person accounts. Impeccable interpretations.

Easy read