Jump to content

Can anyone recommend a good cryptology and/or puzzle cache solving book?


Recommended Posts

:)[/b]First time forum user here....we've been geocaching about 10 months now, and having a total blast with it. My question is: Can anyone recommend a helpful cryptology and/or puzzle cache guide that will provide a decent start at working on puzzle caches? More and more, we're encountering puzzles that rely on various codes and ciphers that are probably familiar ground for many tech-trained geocachers, but are utterly alien to the rest of us. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

 

Thanks!

Cabar Feidh

KabirFeidh@aol.com

Link to comment

"The Code Book" by Simon Singh is a good, basic history of codes. You can download the CD-ROM version legally and free. It includes tools for solving many different common code types.

ETA: I looks like CR's post is a more up-to-date site for the same thing.

 

Here are two crypto Wikis:

Cryptodox

WikiProject Cryptography

I'm not sure how active that second one is.

 

There are a lot of good puzzle-solving tips in this thread, too.

Edited by Dinoprophet
Link to comment

I would recommend the following book:

 

"The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Crytograms" by Elonka Dunin

 

This is a paperback book that has over 600 mystery codes for you to crack. It has Da Vinci style codes and cyphers, brainteasing cryptograms, secret messages, plus real-life unsolved codes and undeciphered scripts.

 

You can get this book at your local book store. It costs $13.95.

 

Here's the ISBN number if you need to order it:

 

ISBN-13: 978-0-78671-726-2

ISBN-10: 0-7867-1726-2

 

Hope this helps.

 

White Rider

Link to comment

I like singh's book - and have the cd (it came free when I joined the American Crypotogram Association) - it has many useful tools as well as descriptions of a number of ciphers

 

here is a website that is also useful: Rumkin cipher tools - you will find a goodly number of tools for manipulating text and solving ciphers

 

Good Luck - have fun!!!!

 

BTW - the Dunin book is available at amazon.com for US$11.86 - the Singh book for US$10.85 - there are used copies of both available for lower prices.

Edited by OHMIKY
Link to comment

West Michigan cachers were lucky enough to have one of our own "Puzzle Masters" give a presentation recently at the 2nd Annual SW Michigan Chili Cookoff event. Mike, part of the brain trust of the caching team Tikibirds, put together a wonder presentation on some of the techniques that can be used to solve puzzle caches.

 

Here is exactly what he posted in the MIGo forums:

 

------------

Here are the links to the Puzzle Solving Presentation that we presented at the SW Chapter Chili Cook Off Event...

 

The Power Point presentation can be downloaded from:

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/Tikibirds/z/Puzzle.ppt

(about 2MB)

 

and the Video of the presentation from:

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/Tikibirds/z/Puzzle.wmv

(about 120 MB) (This one takes quite awhile to download)

 

In the video, it's difficult to see the slides, so I'd suggest using both the powerpoint and the video/audio together.

 

I'm limited to 1GB (1000MB) per day of downloads.

(But it's free!)

 

- Mike (Tikibirds)

----------------

 

If you enjoy them, I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

 

Have fun everyone,

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

Link to comment

West Michigan cachers were lucky enough to have one of our own "Puzzle Masters" give a presentation recently at the 2nd Annual SW Michigan Chili Cookoff event. Mike, part of the brain trust of the caching team Tikibirds, put together a wonder presentation on some of the techniques that can be used to solve puzzle caches.

 

Here is exactly what he posted in the MIGo forums:

 

------------

Here are the links to the Puzzle Solving Presentation that we presented at the SW Chapter Chili Cook Off Event...

 

The Power Point presentation can be downloaded from:

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/Tikibirds/z/Puzzle.ppt

(about 2MB)

 

and the Video of the presentation from:

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/Tikibirds/z/Puzzle.wmv

(about 120 MB) (This one takes quite awhile to download)

 

In the video, it's difficult to see the slides, so I'd suggest using both the powerpoint and the video/audio together.

 

I'm limited to 1GB (1000MB) per day of downloads.

(But it's free!)

 

- Mike (Tikibirds)

----------------

 

If you enjoy them, I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

 

Have fun everyone,

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

That is an excellent presentation. He shows how to solve several real puzzle caches. The video is mainly of Mike going through the PowerPoint, so if you can view the ppt file, I recommend only grabbing that. That will allow than 8 people to download the files per day.

Link to comment

West Michigan cachers were lucky enough to have one of our own "Puzzle Masters" give a presentation recently at the 2nd Annual SW Michigan Chili Cookoff event. Mike, part of the brain trust of the caching team Tikibirds, put together a wonder presentation on some of the techniques that can be used to solve puzzle caches.

 

Here is exactly what he posted in the MIGo forums:

 

----------------

 

If you enjoy them, I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

 

Have fun everyone,

 

Deane

AKA: DeRock & the Psychic Cacher - Grattan MI

 

Unfortunately, they are no longer available from here. :-(

Link to comment

The Power Point presentation can be downloaded from:

http://www.mydatabus.com/public/Tikibirds/z/Puzzle.ppt

(about 2MB)

 

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but does anyone has that PPT saved? That website appears to be down.

 

Francisco

 

The Michigan Geocaching Organization is now hosting the presentation for me. You'll have to log in for a free membership to get it though...

 

Go under the Main Menu on the left

MIGO Documents -> Presentations.

The two "Puzzle Solving Ones" are what you're looking for...

Hope that helps!

- Mike (Tikibirds)

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...