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This is a great read .....

We hear a lot about smart Allied code breakers breaking German and Japanese code - anyone know what the Allies' codes were like? were they broken?

The biggest thing hindering the Germans was organizational - they had lots of units that competed with each other. A good list of their success https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_code_breaking_in_World_...

The Germans weren't the only ones with internal division sapping effectiveness; on the eve of Pearl Harbor the US managed to crack the Japanese diplomatic cipher. However, two teams, nominally organised and housed together but still vying with one another, tried to own it exclusively. To keep things fair, the navy team and the army team took turns cracking it. There was a lot of heat about who knew what when later.

As the Germans approached Moscow, the British Embassy evacuated. Years later, a bug was discovered cemented into the roof of the cipher room, presumed to have been planted while the embassy was evacuated. So clearly, despite the present danger on the outskirts, some people in Moscow were thinking of the future wars...

My notes on who broke Enigma when and where https://williame.github.io/post/145745642718.html

Someone who doesn't get as much attention as Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman is W. T. Tutte. His feat of breaking the Fish cipher is perhaps the greatest mental gymnastics ever?

An unsung hero during this period was Arne Beurling in Sweden. I came across the T52 in a museum in Stockholm and was completely surprised. Its a variant of the Fish cipher and the Arne broke it just like Tutte did in England. I'd have to look it up but perhaps Arne was first? Amazing too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arne_Beurling

I'd love to hear about things I've missed!

Neat summary.

I wonder how many encrypted texts they actually got to be able to come up with a decryption technique. Cannot imagine it being too many.

A couple of highly rated books mentioned in the article:

Code Girls: https://www.amazon.com/Code-Girls-Untold-American-Breakers/d...

The Woman Who Smashed Codes: https://www.amazon.com/Woman-Who-Smashed-Codes-Outwitted/dp/...

I'm curious what kind of person could see titles like those without groaning.
I think publishers make authors do that.

I wouldn’t read this book for years because of the silly title:

“You Can Be a Stock Market Genius" https://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Stock-Market-Genius/dp/068484...

So I take it you did read it finally? What did it do for you?
I kept seeing the author mentioned. He’s a famous value investor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Greenblatt

“ In 1985, Greenblatt started a hedge fund, Gotham Capital, with $7 million, most of which was provided by junk-bond king Michael Milken.[4] Robert Goldstein joined Gotham Capital in 1989.[1] Through his firm Gotham Capital, Greenblatt presided over an annualized return of 50% ("after all expenses" but "before general partner's incentive allocation" fees) or 30% (net of fees[5]) from 1985 to 1994 by investing in ""special situations" like spinoffs and other corporate restructurings".[6][7] In January 1995 Gotham returned all capital of outside partners (approximately $500 million).”

Spam has destroyed any chance I would give that book a read.

Another topic, did you know how I was able to make 5000$ a day?