Customer Reviews
Absolutely fascinating read! - By: , 30 Aug 2005 
I first heard of Sarah Flannery after the media hype surrounding her cryptographic algorithm a few years ago. I bought the book hoping for an insight into the workings of this young & brilliant mind. I was definitely not disappointed. The book is an enthralling read, even for someone like me with very average mathematical capability. This is an inspiring & much needed addition to the available literature on popular science. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I recommend it highly to anyone interestedin academic achievement & exciting human endeavour.
An inspiring and encouraging book - By: A. K. Johnston, 08 May 2004 
This is an inspiring book, telling the story of a young woman's introduction to, & enamourment with, of all things, mathematics. In an era where enthusiasm for the sciences is often seen as "uncool", it is delightfully encouraging to read the story of a family, &in particular the author herself, who understand both the value & the pleasure of such interests.
The book balances two quite separate elements. On the one hand there's the story of how Sarah became interestedin mathematics, did an interesting science project, & got a lot of attention when as a seventeen year old Irish girl she nearly invented a powerful new cryptographic system. On the other hand there's a very clear introduction to the mathematics underlying modern cryptography, presented using a range of interesting examples, puzzles & clear explanations.
After an introduction to Sarah, her family, & the intellectual training methods of her parents, the first two thirds of the book focus mainly on the mathematical background, interspersed with regular anecdotes explaining how Sarah came to understand & use different skills & areas of knowledge. If you want an introduction to this area of mathematics you could do a lot worse than this book.
The last third of the book focuses on how she did her science project, & what happened when she won a major prizein the annual Irish Young Scientist competition, including how she & her family dealt with quite unexpected fame & media attention. What is interesting is how seriously the Irish establishment & media seem to take these things, & puts to shame the British indifference to this sort of achievement.
Finally a couple of appendixes present answers to the puzzles, & a few key pieces of mathematical backgroundin more detail.
The book is co-written by Sarah's father David. He's a mathematics lecturer, & on the evidence of both the explanationsin the book, & the way he inspired his children it appears he's a very good one. Between the father's very strong skillsin presenting mathematics, & the daughter's refreshing simplicity & honesty about all that's happened to her, they make a very powerful team.
I would definitely recommend this book to any youngster interestedin the sciences, or any sort of academic endeavour. I'd also recommend it to older readers, an encouraging proof that such interests have not been entirely abandoned.
Quite a Story - By: R. P. Sedgwick, 12 Jan 2004 
In Code is an account, toldin the first person, of how a student's project to enter a competition became a international news item when it appeared to improve considerably upon the RSA algorithm for public key encryption.
In the first three quarters of the book Sarah describes how she became interestedin Mathematics via her father's puzzles. She then takes the reader through the absolute basics of the maths behind her project, without going too much into the details of the work she did itself.
The final section of the book is about the competitions she entered (and won), & the aftermath which ensued when she became an international celebrity following the news of her breakthrough.
Sarah's youthful enthusiasm for maths comes throughin practically every sentence, as does her humility regarding her own achievements.
Although it's not a very technical work, there's quite a lot of mathsin the book at a very basic level, which might not suit every reader.
Excellent guide to Maths for non mathematicians - By: , 24 Feb 2003 This book is probably the best introduction to Number theory & cryptography I have read. If you have studied Maths at degree level then you will probably find this book to be far too basic but for the rest of us it's superb. Sarah has managed to make an otherwise dull subject enthralling. Well done!
Over-hyped and poorly written. - By: , 27 Apr 2001 
A book writtenin an almost breathless & far too gushing way, about an admittedly talented woman who seems only to have implemented someone else's algorithm for a science fair.
The book does not describe the algorithm, nor what Sarah did with it to generate so much hype, & the fact that the system was found NOT to be suitable for public key cryptography is almost glossed over.
If you are interestedin personal side of the story, then the book is touching & engaging. However, if like me, you buy it to find out more about the "Cayley-Purser" algorithm & Sarah's technical involvementin its development, you will be disappointed.
