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| The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The History of the Wartime Codebreaking Centre by the Men and Women Who Were There |  | Author: Sinclair McKay
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
List Price: £20.00
Buy New: £11.89
as of 9/9/2010 20:35 CDT details
You Save: £8.11 (41%)
New (6) from £10.44
Rating:  14 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.4
ISBN: 1845135393
EAN: 9781845135393
Publication Date: May 20, 2010
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 The daily life of codebreakers - or Bletchley one day at a time... September 6, 2010
Christopher Meadows (York, UK)
While there have been many books - and films - involving Bletchley Park of late, this text comes at the facility from a new angle. Where other books cover the cracking of various codes, and the impact of the Park on the war effort, this book examines Bletchley through the eyes of its staff. Rather than accounts of codes broken or attacks predicted, the reader is thrown into the Park through the lens of people who lived there. Whilst the breaking of codes, as the purpose of Bletchley, is mentioned, the greater focus is on the culture and personalities which defined the British codebreaking experience, before, during and after the Second World War.
The book is separated into semi-chronological chapters, each looking at an aspect of the work (or recreation) at the Park. The prose within each is straightforward and accessible, as befits the focus of the piece on people, rather than mathematical theorems. The chapters themselves cover a range of topics, including the set up and closure of Bletchley, the early recruitment drives, the arrival of the WRENs, and the construction of the (now famous) Bombes and Colossus machines, early precursors to the computing age. Also included are anecdotal profiles of famous Bletchley alumni, including Turing, Menzies and Dennison.
Each chapter stays on-point nicely, and comes laced with quotes and descriptions from Bletchley veterans, providing a more intimate study of the site than is usual. It is a shame that the number of sources is relatively limited - given the number of staff at the park - but given that the events are now over sixty years old, only to be expected. Also included in the centre of the text were several black and white photograph plates, showing life inside the huts and views of the park. Much like the rest of the book, these serve to paint a picture of daily life at Bletchley, rather than focusing on the contents of the work itself.
Overall, this is an excellent close study of daily life at Bletchley Park, before, during, and after the war, from the original purchase by Sinclair through to the site's closure, with a brief coda on the Park as a historical monument. This view of Bletchley as individuals, rather than as an institution, has been done with great care, and reference to primary sources. A highly enjoyable and entertaining read - come for the codebreaking, but stay for the codebreakers.
Review September 2, 2010
A. Rumble (London)
I bought this for my father-in-law as a birthay present and he is throughly enjoying it.
I visited Bletchly Park myself recently and found it fasinating.
 bletchley August 30, 2010
misterloz
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an interesting enough book but a bit of a hotch potch in the way its put together and written. Exactly who the main characters were and more about their contributions and how the code breaking developed would have made it better
 Wonderful August 26, 2010
David Cranson (Birmingham, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A wonderfully written and insightful account of the life and work that went on at Bletchley Park, before and during the war.
It is doubtful - in this day and age - that such work - in such basic circumstances would ahve survived un-noticed - although obviously things have brown and become much more complex these day - per GCHQ.
The people, the thoughts and the hard work involved in these earlier days of code breaking come off the page as living memories. These people were - until comparitively recently - he unsung heroes and heroins of WWII. The hard work and endeavour that they put in - with little or no public support - is outstanding. The long hours, the shifts. Dealing with 'intellectuals' who were - in modern day terms at least - on the brink of a nearvous breakdown and liable to have 'eureka' moments at the drop of a hat. The un-nerving knowledge that these people had at their fingertips, the secrecy adn absolute hush-hush atmosphee that surrounded the place.
What come across most tho' is the pride - in the correct sense of the word - that these people had in the work that they were doing. From the typists and messangers up to the cryptographers and academics. They were not only doing it for Britain, but they were doing it for the people of Britain, and for the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in whose hands their lives sometimes depended.
There are storie of pure luck, of leaps of ingenuity. Stories of love and fierce fallouts and anger between friends of longstanding.
Stories of people arriving at a small railway station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, in the pitch black, no-one arround and only brief directins of how to go from the station to the house. Stories of people travelling from as far afield as Inverness - having never left Scotland before - to people of more 'respectable' circles. Deutauntes, Oxbridge scholars, chess champions. Wrens and other military personnel put to a use which they never thought possible.
Yet there is an informality which comes from the story also. no uniforms were worn - whcih - at least initially - seemed to bamboozle the more died-in-the-wool milatary people. People met their future wives and husbands. People who would not have met at all had it not been for Bletchley Park.
This is a book about love and about hardwork. A book brilliantly written about those to whom we must for ever give our thanks. Without these people we might not have the freedom(s) we so readily take for granted these days.
Very much recommended to those who enjoy a good yarn, and to those who are fascinated with Bitish history. Even if you are not a historian or find hostory dry and dull - this book will pull you along with the real-life happenings of these ordinary - and sometime extraordinary - people who did all the codebreaking in secret and never told a soul about it.
Wonderful.
The Secret Life of Bletchley Park August 25, 2010
Gerry (UK)
A well written and easy book to read. A real eye opener. How did they manage to keep Bletchley Park such a secret during the ward, nobody knew for example that so many people were involved in Bletchely Park during 1940 to 1945. Also reading between the lines, it helps you to understand why some strange political decisions were made during and after world war two. I enjoyed this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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