I have read many of the books and watched many of the films about Alan Turing and the Enigma Code. This book added to those, with both personal insights into the man and his genius, as well as thorough details of the technical aspects and difficulty of coding. A great addition to the historical literature and accounts of this important man. Thank you for the advance copy.

One thing “everybody knows” about World War II is Allied cracking of the German Enigma code machine allowed the Allies to win World War II. It has become an article of faith since the secret was first revealed in the 1970s. Is that accurate?

“The Enigma Story: The Truth Behind the ‘Unbreakable’ World War II Cipher,” by John Dermot Turing tackles that question along with many others. It provides a fresh look at the history of Enigma, dispelling many myths and placing World War II codebreaking in proper historical context.

Turing opens the book with a history of the Enigma machine. He tells of its development in post-World War I Germany. Originally intended for commercial purposes, improved version were eventually used by the German government, and licensed abroad. (Italy’s military used a simpler version, while Britain used a much-improved version for their Typex coding machines.)

He explores the early efforts to crack Enigma. Pre-war, the Poles took the lead, using mathematics to decrypt messages. France also proved an early leader in decryption. Britain picked up the torch after Poland and France fell. It mechanized the process, although Turing shows the US industrialized decryption.

Turing uses sidebars to explain how decoding worked and to introduce the principal players in the decoding effort. A nephew of Alan Turing, the author places his famous uncle in the proper perspective. He shows that while Alan Turing played an important part in the story, other played bigger roles, including Gordon Welchman, whose contributions are almost totally neglected.

Turing also attacks the many myths that have sprouted up around codebreaking, many of which were created by prior authors with incomplete knowledge of the whole story. It turns out the British government did not allow Coventry to be bombed to protect the Ultra secret. Coded German messages never named their target. Similarly, the Poles never stole a machine from the Germans.

Turing also examines the role played by decryption in winning the war. He concludes in isolation it was not a war- or battle-winning weapon. (The British decrypted virtually the entire German battle plan for Crete and still lost.) He concludes it did shorten the war, leading to an Allied victory a year or two earlier than might otherwise have occurred.

“The Enigma Story” may be the most complete examination of the history of Enigma yet written. For those interested World War II codebreaking, it is a must-read book.

Being a long-time Enigma machine observer, the read was fascinating for me, though I acknowledge the fact, that for a person who is trying to receive general knowledge on the topic, it may seem a bit heavy on the technicality part, though necessary, it seemed heavy at times and may lose a reader who is more interested in deciphering history and personas.
but overall a very solid research, at the end of the day, the author is a family member of Alan Turing, and I am sure, has a very deep appreciation and respect for the craft and machines specifically.
thanks to the author for granting us this privilege.

John Dermot Turing https://dermotturing.com is the nephew of Alan Turing and the author of eight books. The Enigma Story: The Truth Behind the ‘Unbreakable’ World War II Cipher was published in 2022. It is my 67th book to complete in 2022.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! I categorize this book/novel as G. The book covers the development of the Enigma machine and gives considerable credit to the Polish code-breaking effort. It goes on to detail the work by the British at Bletchley Park and the efforts by Alan Turing to break the German code. The Bombe machines developed to break the code are described. The book also describes the American resources devoted to breaking the German codes.

I enjoyed the 6 hours I spent reading this 226-page WWII history. My career was spent working with computers. I am always amazed at what those at Bletchley Park were able to accomplish! I like the chosen cover art. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

The Enigma cipher was supposed to be the German's impenetrable defence for its military communications against prying eyes during World War II. All manner of secrets were entrusted to it. When the Allies finally managed to crack the code, it heralded a turning point in the war.

The Enigma Story shines a light onto this fascinating story of how the code was created, adopted by the Nazis, and finally broken. Dermot Turing, the nephew of the great codebreaker Alan Turing, explores the twists and turns of German encryption efforts from the end of World War I through to Hitler's demise and the great lengths to which the Allies went to break it.

The Enigma Story reveals the efforts of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the machines called 'bombes' specially designed to break it, & the vast resources devoted in America to decrypting German messages. From the cloak-and-dagger heroics of men like Hans-Thilo Schmidt and Gustave Bertrand to the brilliant mathematical discoveries of men like Henryk Zygalski & Dilly Knox to the fraught decision-making of Allied High Command, the battle for the code was at the heart of the Allied victory in World War II.

This extraordinary tale of intrigue, ingenuity and courage brings to life the complete story of the Enigma in a lively and entertaining narrative.

I learnt a lot from reading this book! It was nicely structured and kept my interest throughout.

I'd recommend this one to anyone who enjoys learning more about history or WWII .

Overall I rated this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to @netgalley & Dermot Turing & Arcturus Publishers for the opportunity to read this #gifted e-Advanced Reader Copy

🏷 #TheEnigmaStory #NetGalley #bookish #booksta #EducationMatters #EducationalRead #Book Review #BookRecommendation #BooksConnectUs #BooksBooksBooks #literaryadventureswithgabby

A technical and complex tale of how the enigma machine was developed, worked, used and how the code was cracked in order to defeat Nazi Germany.

I’m giving this a four because I think if I had been invested in the topic I would have been really into, I would have absolutely loved this book. I think if you’re deeply interested in the history of WWII, then this would be a great book for you.

Adding a qualifier here - I didn’t love this book because it wasn’t my style, not because it was poorly written or inaccurate.

If however, you are like me and don’t have an interest level that would make you want to read a historical text, then I highly recommend skipping this pick. Full disclosure, when I requested this book, I had in my head that this would be akin to how the show Mind Hunters explains the world behind developing the field of criminal profiling. Unfortunately, I just was not super interested in the book myself.

An thoroughly engrossing story about how the Allies broken the German codes in WW2. The story provides great insights into the various individuals involved as well as first hand accounts. This is a great read for all history enthusiasts.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This isn’t so much a story as a factual description of the mechanics of the Enigma machine and the mechanics of codebreaking. There are sidebars with information about the people involved, but there’s no narrative. This book might appeal to electromechanical engineers and others in STEM. If you’re looking for a gripping spy story, this isn’t it.

I have always been interested in codes and the Enigma machine is the best place to start. Having read several books on Bletchley Park, I thought book would give a more in-depth description of the machine. I was not wrong. Meticulously detailed, it gives an excellent description of the Enigma and all the minutiae, which is so needed to understand the complexity of the machine. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone fascinated with codes, even though I don't have a mathematical bone in my body I still loved this book! I was given an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

I always wanted to read a book that delved a little deeper into the whole ENIGMA program and this one really scratched that itch. I was unaware of a lot of the situations involved where the allies actually had to allow some attacks to occur in order for them not to have been outed as having cracked the code. I can't imagine how difficult that was. This is a truly fascinating history written by a family member so you know it is going to explore some of the personal history of Turing as well which gave this story an added dimension that made it utterly readable. Highly recommended for WWII and history buffs alike.