Review of 'Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I made a bad choice and decided that I'd start 2019 with a reading unit! I'd read books on real life stories of female spies! It'd be all of my favorite things: underappreciated historic women, cryptography and espionage. The downside is that even the coolest topics get repetitive after awhile, especially if you include a compendium like Code Girls.
Look, there's nothing wrong with Code Girls, but similar to other historic compedia (e.g. Radium Girls), it struggles for want of a focus, jumping among characters that it doesn't do enough to differentiate. Juxtaposed with the overlapping [b:The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies|32025298|The Woman Who Smashed Codes A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies|Jason Fagone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479580153s/32025298.jpg|52666460], the shallowness of its approach became readily apparent. This was also very true in its treatment …
I made a bad choice and decided that I'd start 2019 with a reading unit! I'd read books on real life stories of female spies! It'd be all of my favorite things: underappreciated historic women, cryptography and espionage. The downside is that even the coolest topics get repetitive after awhile, especially if you include a compendium like Code Girls.
Look, there's nothing wrong with Code Girls, but similar to other historic compedia (e.g. Radium Girls), it struggles for want of a focus, jumping among characters that it doesn't do enough to differentiate. Juxtaposed with the overlapping [b:The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies|32025298|The Woman Who Smashed Codes A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine who Outwitted America's Enemies|Jason Fagone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479580153s/32025298.jpg|52666460], the shallowness of its approach became readily apparent. This was also very true in its treatment of cryptography -- mathy readers be forewarned.
I think it's a great intro to the topic, but it didn't hold my interest as someone who already had a strong background in WWII cryptanalysis.
