Nesmith Library

The book of codes, understanding the world of hidden messages : an illustrated guide to signs, symbols, ciphers, and secret languages, Paul Lunde, general editor

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrationsmaps

index present

non fiction

The book of codes

bibliography

Paul Lunde, general editor

understanding the world of hidden messages : an illustrated guide to signs, symbols, ciphers, and secret languages

This illustrated encyclopedia surveys the history and development of code-making and code-breaking in all areas of culture and society from hieroglyphs and runes to DNA, the Zodiac Killer, graffiti, and beyond

THE FIRST CODES: Reading the landscape -- Tracking animals -- Bushcraft signs -- Early petroglyphs -- First writing systems -- Reading cuneiform -- Alphabets and scripts -- The evolution of numerical systems -- Linear A & Linear B -- The Phaistos disc -- The mystery of hieroglyphs -- Hieroglyphs revealed -- The riddle of the Maya -- Indigenous traditions -- SECTS, SYMBOLS, & SECRET SOCIETIES: Early Christians -- The pentangle -- Divination -- Heresies, sects and cults -- Rosslyn Chapel -- Alchemy -- Kabbalism -- Necromancy -- Rosicrucians -- Freemasons -- CODES FOR SECRECY: The art of concealment -- For your eyes only -- Frequency analysis -- Disguising ciphers -- Medieval cipher systems -- The Babington plot -- The da Vinci code -- Ciphertexts and keys -- Grilles -- Spies and black chambers -- Mechanical devices -- Hidden in plain sight -- COMMUNICATING AT A DISTANCE: Long-distance alarms -- Flag signals -- Semaphore and the telegraph -- Morse code -- Person to person -- CODES OF WAR: Classical codes of war -- The 'indecipherable' code -- The great cipher -- 19th-century innovations -- Military map codes -- Field signals -- The Zimmermann telegram -- Enigma: the 'unbreakable' system -- WWII codes and code breakers -- Cracking enigma -- Navajo windtalkers -- Cold war codes -- CODES OF THE UNDERWORLD: Street slang -- From Samurai to Yakuza -- Cockney rhyming slang -- The Mob -- Ramblers' sign language -- Cops and codes -- The zodiac mystery -- The zodiac legacy -- Graffiti -- Youth codes -- Digital subversionENCODING THE WORLD: Describing time -- Describing form -- Force and motion -- Mathematics: the indescribable -- The periodic table -- Defining the world -- Encoding the landscape -- Navigation -- Taxonomy -- The genetic code -- Genetic ancestry -- Using the genetic code -- CODES OF CIVILIZATION: Codes of construction -- Taoist mysticism -- South Asian sacred imagery -- The language of Buddhism -- The patterns of Islam -- Mysteries of the North -- Medieval visual sermons -- Stained glass windows -- Renaissance iconography -- The age of reason -- Victoriana -- Textiles, carpets, and embroidery -- CODES OF COMMERCE: Commercial codes -- Brands & trademarks -- Makers' marks -- Codes of work -- Currency and counterfeits -- The book in your hands -- CODES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR: Body language -- Survival signals -- Sporting codes -- Etiquette -- Dressing your message -- Heraldry -- Formal dress codes -- Decoding the unconscious -- The language of dreams -- VISUAL CODES: Signs & signage -- Highway codes -- Challenged communication -- Describing music -- Musical scores -- Animal talk -- Extraterrestrials -- IMAGINARY CODES: Modern magic and mayhem -- The Bible code -- The Beale Papers -- Mystery and imagination -- Fantasy codes -- Doomsday codes -- THE DIGITAL AGE. The first computers -- Supercomputers -- Talking to computers -- Alice, Bob, & Eve -- Future medicine -- Where are codes taking us?