The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There Paperback – January 1, 2011

I downloaded this book after a visit to Bletchley Park really opened my eyes to the scale of the challenge that the tireless men and women at Bletchley faced and its crucial role in the war effort. McKay is an excellent writer, successfully balancing the book to address both the extraordinary technical achievements of the likes of Alan Turing and first-hand accounts of those who worked to capitalise on those achievements to give Britain and its allies a considerable advantage. An enjoyable read.

Fascinating - whilst it contains some repetitiveness (it is almost necessary due to the chapter structure) the information is of high interest. I certainly gleaned lots of information, it covers factual, speculative and personal stories all neatly wound together.I visited Bletchley Park in early 2011 and I found that helped me with this book in bringing the place and key characters alive.Certainly recommended reading as it's a pleasant non dry read that informs you.

My father was one of the Whiz Kids as they were called...code breakers on Admiral Halsey's staff so I loved reading about these code breakers in England. Takes a mind that sees the big picture immediately then sees patterns in message traffic or behavior that makes it easy for them to crack foreign codes and prevent loss of life or to solve murder cases. PBS recently did a series on the women who worked on big breaks saving hundreds of lives and the after the war were tossed back to subservience unable to talk about the huge contribution they made. Theirs was a difficult adjustment to the daily grind after the war...men were rewarded with medals and acclaim but they were muted.I found this so interesting and purposely ordered from a bookstore in London..great read!

I expected specific descriptions of how various breakthroughs were accomplished as in the multiple cases of espionage directed by William Stephenson in "The Quiet Canadian" or "The Man Who Never Was." Besides struggling with use of unfamiliar and incomplete sentences, there is a lack of substance. For instance the breaking of the "yellow key" is mentioned as a breakthrough from the Norwegian battle, but nothing more is explained. Instead it is a story of the vast number of individals involved at Bletchley, the living conditions, and individual backgounds and traits. For anyone looking for a description of how individual breakthroughs were actually accomplished will be disappointed.

This book is well written and keeps you totally involved. It was a fascinating place and produced such amazing results, thanks to the really hard working people working there. The pressure was horrible, as these people knew they were there for a purpose and information was needed as soon as it could be decoded. I highly recommend this particular book on Bletchley Park.

Having been fascinated with the work done at B.P. since reading 'The Code Breakers' quite some years back and then, on a visit to the UK, visiting Bletchley Park for a day and seeing the actual coding machines described, from the German Enigma's to Colossus, the 'father' of modern computers, this book was a must and it didn't let me down.An enjoyable read from an historical and documentary point and anyone who is interested in this valuable part played in the history of WW II secret warfare will find it a great addition to their library.

A lot of stories about the folks who served. Written like a non-fiction book -- for me that means linking facts and not much jibber-jabber. Is that a good thing? Depends on what you want from a book. We read it as a book club selection and I found it interesting, but a bit boring....

well written book explaining the day to day life of those working at BP while also stressing the importance of the work done, unknown by so many. I have visited BP so that maybe helped to bring the pages to life in my mind, but even without having visited BP, it is very well written and some good storytelling. In any case, go visit BP!

Although I have visited and read a lot about Bletchley Park I found this book to be both very easy reading and extremely informative, particularly in the way that the author explains some situations.If you are at all interested in finding out more about Bletchley I would certainly recommend this book.

If you can relate to the work.that was done there during WW2 you will relate to this book. An absulute masterpieve

Reportaje periodístico bien escrito, con testimonios y anécdotas de personas q vivieron los hechos, bien documentado, aunque sin pretensiones históricas, quizás demasiado extenso.

This is an engrossing and extremely well-written history of the men and women, including Alan Turing, who broke the German Enigma Code, and in Eisenhower's view shortened the war by at least two years, saving thousands, possibly millions, of lives in the process. The book is also the best possible companion study for the films "Enigma" and "Bletchley Girls." McKay also reveals the strain on the codebreakers of having to keep silent about their work, during the war and for many years after.

Dieses Buch ist in hohem Maß empfehlenswert, wenn man sich über Bletchley Park informieren möchte. Hierbei beschränkt sich der Autor nicht nur auf die klassischen Fakten wie die diversen Maschinen und technischen (auch für die Zukunft wichtigen) Entwicklungen, die diese Einrichtung im 2. Weltkrieg möglich gemacht hat, sondern gibt auch einen höchst spannenden Einblick in das Leben der Menschen an sich, die dort gearbeitet haben. Die Tatsache, dass Bletchley Park ein Geheimnis sein musste, zog so viele Konsequenzen auch für das persönliche Leben der Beteiligten nach sich, die man so schnell aus den Augen verliert, wenn man noch verdauen muss, dass der 2. Weltkrieg ohne diese Dekodierungskünstler möglicherweise noch Jahre länger gedauert hätte. Es berührt stark, wenn von der zwischenmenschlichen Dynamik vor Ort die Rede ist, welchen Einfluss die Quasi-Isolierung auf die Freizeitgestaltung hatte und vor allem, welche Auswirkungen die Geheimhaltung für das persönliche Leben der Einzelnen hatte. Besonders hervorheben möchte ich, dass es hier nicht allzu technisch zugeht, so dass man auch ohne größere Mathematikkenntnisse etc. dem Inhalt problemlos folgen kann (da war ich mir vor der Lektüre nicht so sicher). Es ist von Menschen die Rede, die über sich hinaus gewachsen sind und Bemerkenswertes geleistet haben unter extremen Umständen.Liest man diesen ausgewogenen Einblick in das Thema, wird einem zunehmend bewusst, wie überfällig die Anerkennung dieser bemerkenswerten Persönlichkeiten, von denen einige vorgestellt werden und auch zur Sprache kommen, lange Jahre war. Und so hinterlässt einen dieses Buch aufgewühlt, zufrieden, ein bisschen ehrfürchtig. Es liest sich fast wie ein Spionageroman, nur eben mit dem Wissen, dass es Fakten sind, die einen so beeindrucken.