Richard Belfield

This book doesn't give itself enough credit.

There are a lot more than six unsolved ciphers in the world. That is, there are a lot more than six un-deciphered documents. On the other hand, most of those documents are encrypted using the same mechanism, it's just that the relevant key has not been found. That's the usual reason a "book" code can't be solved -- you need to own a particular book to crack it, and no one has figured out the book. But we know the cipher. That's the case with the Beale Cipher, for instance, mentioned in this book.

On the other hand, there is a very good chance that the Voynich Manuscript, also mentioned here, is a fake. No cipher at all; just a bunch of symbols designed to fool someone.

So, OK, the cipher count is a little dubious. It doesn't make the subject less fascinating. There are several ways to write a book about ciphers. One way stresses the actual mechanism of encryption. This sort of book is for people who have secrets to keep. Another is to devote more attention to the history of the ciphers. That sort may not be as good for keeping the National Security Administration off your back, but it makes for more interesting reading. This book is of the second sort. You'll learn some cryptography; you'll also learn about some pretty goofy people. Which can be a lot more fun than reading someone's secret orders in a battle long since settled....… (mais)

The Assassination Business by Richard Belfield is a fascinating account of the way in which assassination (defined widely to include almost any murder not for purely private motives) has impacted the world from Julius Caesar through Thomas a'Becket and Marat to the Kennedys and WPC Yvonne Fletcher.

The author is a documentary film maker who made programmes about the death of Princess Diana and the assassination of WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London.

For me, most interesting is the linkage form one assassination to the next as killers are in their turn killed and so on. The 'licence to kill' a la James Bond is the beginning of a vicious circle of assassination and counter assassination. It is an irony but no coincidence that John and Robert Kennedy, both enthusiasts for the assassination of, among others, Castro in Cuba and Diem in Vietnam were themselves assassinated.

The chapter on the death of Princess Diana is also revealing and, while I don't think that a conclusive case is made that she was assassinated by the secret service, there seems little doubt that the official version was a highly suspect coat of whitewash.

Well worth the read.… (mais)

A decent introduction to several cipher mysteries, and a serviceable introduction to codes and codebreaking. But it reeks of adequacity. There are so many errors in the stuff I do know, that it makes me wonder about his research into the stuff I do not. And some of the quack theories he advances, that have been quite easily dismissed by others. Such as his insistence the Zodiac killer began in 1963, et cetera. His interpretation of Bacon's role in the Voynich Manuscript is hilarious. But worst of all is the insipidness of the writing. Take these gems: "The Scots were put back in their box by the brutal slaughter at Culloden in 1745 and then further crushed as the Duke of Cumberland and his army of psychopaths practiced savage ethnic cleansing against the Highlanders. ...making Cumberland an early prototype for Slobadan Milosevic." Really? What crap statements. And, same paragraph, "Overseas, the British military fought and defeated the French wherever they met, taking territory in Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean and Africa." Really? The British took US territory in 1745? Or at any time? Sloppy. A fun primer, but not any real meat here.… (mais)