Register Guidelines E-Books Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Go Back   MobileRead Forums > E-Book General > Writers' Corner

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-22-2009, 03:44 PM   #1
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Code / Cypher Breaking

See post below for sample puzzles.

Would anyone (or, ideally, more than one person) be interested in an eBook that was basically a series of easy to difficult code / cyphers to be broken by the reader?

Perhaps either tied together by a loose overarching story, or maybe the text revealed by solving the easier codes / cyphers would offer tips on solving the harder ones.

Just an idea I'm playing around in my head, and would like to gauge interest.

I envision this sort of thing as using a wide variety of different writing scripts, so we are not talking about dull and laborious code breaking of letter substitution and other puzzles... but rather mini Voynich manuscript type mysteries. (But definitely with a focus on having at least two thirds range from easy to moderate difficulty, and only a few well-nigh unsolvable ones.)

- Ahi

Last edited by ahi; 07-25-2009 at 10:52 PM. Reason: added link to post with attachment
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 03:53 AM   #2
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
It sounds very interesting - I'll be very interested in such a book, personally.

Please note, by the way, that the word is "Breaking"; the word "Braking", although it sounds the same, has a completely different meaning .
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 05:28 AM   #3
ShortNCuddlyAm
WWHALD
ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ShortNCuddlyAm ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
ShortNCuddlyAm's Avatar
 
Posts: 7,879
Karma: 337114
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Mitcham, Surrey, UK
Device: iPad. Selling my silver 505 here
Sounds very interesting (although hopefully more breakable than the Voynich manuscript )
ShortNCuddlyAm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 08:30 AM   #4
dadioflex
Dyslexic Count
dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
dadioflex's Avatar
 
Posts: 526
Karma: 5041991
Join Date: Aug 2008
Device: Palm TX, Advent Vega, iPad, iPod Touch, Kindle
Edit.

Last edited by dadioflex; 12-15-2010 at 07:02 PM.
dadioflex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 10:11 AM   #5
LazyScot
DSil
LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.LazyScot ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
LazyScot's Avatar
 
Posts: 3,201
Karma: 6895096
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Hants, UK
Device: Kindle, Cybook
Simon Singh did a history of codebreaking his book The Code Book which included, I think, ten challenges to break (of increasing complexity).

I'd imagine it is difficult to pitch the codes at an appropriate level such that most readers could get it, but that it was at least something of a challenge..
LazyScot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 10:39 AM   #6
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
It sounds very interesting - I'll be very interested in such a book, personally.

Please note, by the way, that the word is "Breaking"; the word "Braking", although it sounds the same, has a completely different meaning .
Thanks, I actually know this... or at least "know" it. I have a feeling that my extended exposure to shoddy spelling (curiously enough primarily since I entered the work force) is in part to blame.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm View Post
Sounds very interesting (although hopefully more breakable than the Voynich manuscript )
In a full collection, I think I would have to aim to have at least one manuscript as unbreakable as the Voynich MS--but I agree, most would have to be considerably more accessible.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex View Post
Sounds more like a game, than a book. How many readers would allow the level of interactivity required?

Most adventure games are a series of puzzles. Professor Layton for the DS is another recent puzzle based game. Actual cyphers... I don't know that it would interest me. Code-breaking is a pretty niche interest. And I used to be fascinated by secret codes at school. These days keeping my life running smoothly is sufficiently challenging.

How about an example of what you had in mind and we can see how much fun it would be.
I will try to put up something in the next day or two.

Suffice it to say that I am not thinking of heavily mathematical codes like public key cryptography even for the hardest puzzles. More like substitution cyphers of both plain and unorthodox sorts, secret codes that make use of certain unusual features of the foreign scripts used.

Definitely primarily an interactive endeavour... and I would say my hope is for something that is not just solely code-breaking but plentifully blends the experience of logical and creative reasoning with the aesthetic experience of (and bits and pieces of edutainment about) various writing systems.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LazyScot View Post
Simon Singh did a history of codebreaking his book The Code Book which included, I think, ten challenges to break (of increasing complexity).

I'd imagine it is difficult to pitch the codes at an appropriate level such that most readers could get it, but that it was at least something of a challenge..
Agreed. What ought to make it simpler is that, as hinted above, I would almost certainly stay away from stuff requiring advanced mathematics and make the exercise more like "creative secret diary deciphering".

Mainly security through obscurity sort of codes, with some of them perhaps even being steganographic in nature.

But I will try to post an example of the sort of thing I mean sooner rather than later so people could comment on something concrete.

Thanks for all the feedback thus far!

- Ahi
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-23-2009, 11:12 AM   #7
zelda_pinwheel
zeldinha zippy zeldissima
zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.zelda_pinwheel ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
zelda_pinwheel's Avatar
 
Posts: 27,827
Karma: 921169
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Paris, France
Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?
this sounds very interesting to me, but as the others have said, it will depend on how it is realised of course. i'll be looking forward to seeing your sample code.
zelda_pinwheel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 05:42 AM   #8
dadioflex
Dyslexic Count
dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.dadioflex ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
dadioflex's Avatar
 
Posts: 526
Karma: 5041991
Join Date: Aug 2008
Device: Palm TX, Advent Vega, iPad, iPod Touch, Kindle
Edit.

Last edited by dadioflex; 12-15-2010 at 07:02 PM.
dadioflex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:08 AM   #9
Abecedary
Exwyzeeologist
Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.
 
Abecedary's Avatar
 
Posts: 535
Karma: 3261
Join Date: Jun 2009
Device: :PRS-505::iPod touch:
While I enjoy puzzles, if they were to be integrated into a story, then the story would have to be very compelling. And I agree with dadioflex, it sounds a bit like some adventure games, especially the Infocom and other great interactive fiction games of yore. Still, I'm up for it!

And for anyone who likes non-conventional stories that need to be untangled for maximum enjoyment, I'd like to suggest Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars and Italo Calvino's Castle of Crossed Destinies.
Abecedary is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:11 AM   #10
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
I have the beginning of an idea, of making the puzzle-containing story arch be an investigation of notes left by a paranoid-schizophrenic (or sufferer of some other form of mental imbalance that ultimately better fits the exhibited symptoms)...

I'll definitely get a puzzle to post worked out for this weekend.

- Ahi
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:17 AM   #11
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abecedary View Post
Wow! Thanks for that!

Feel free to make further recommendation of obscurely wonderful and wonderfully obscure books like this one.

Male version: http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Kha.../dp/0679724613

Female version: http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Kha.../dp/067972754X

Quote:
Written in Serbo-Croatian, first published in Yugoslavia, already a bestseller in Germany and France, this whimsical "lexicon" can be read on many levels. Pavic, professor of Serbian literature at the University of Belgrade, cares passionately about literature and he teases us through the unusual format of this novel to explore the subject. Entries are alphabetically arranged and can be perused at random, read start to finish or back to front. The publisher is offering two different versions, designated "male" and "female," and differing by only 15 lines. The narrative purports to be the historical record of the Khazars, a fictional Indo-European tribe that vanished in the 10th century. According to legend, the Khazar ruler asked a rabbi, a monk and a dervish to interpret a portentous dream; the winner would gain the conversion of the Khazar people to Judaism, Christianity or Islam. The result of this contest was lost in time. Interest in the "Khazar Polemic" prompted the Serbian warlord Avram Brankovich to compile a dictionary on the Khazars with the help of his retinue in the 17th century. Codified by a monk, the dictionary subsequently was 99% destroyed; one copy was found and revised; now it has fallen into the hands of modern-day scholars. Pavic is a 20th century Scheherazade, spinning a series of interconnected folk tales, drawing on a vast source of literary references, eventually metamorphosing his narrative into a murder mystery. Readers who are intrigued by literary conundrums will enjoy entering this magical world with Pavic as their guide.
- Ahi

Last edited by ahi; 07-24-2009 at 11:21 AM. Reason: added some info
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:37 AM   #12
SpiderMatt
Grand Arbiter
SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.SpiderMatt ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
SpiderMatt's Avatar
 
Posts: 447
Karma: 1574837
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Arizona
Device: iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid
I would suck at breaking code and would probably not care enough to read such a book but I know people who would love the idea.
SpiderMatt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:44 AM   #13
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiderMatt View Post
I would suck at breaking code and would probably not care enough to read such a book but I know people who would love the idea.
Good to know on both counts.

If you're bored in a few days, check back on this thread anyways. I'll aim for something fairly easy as the sample for people to check out. If you've never done something like this before, you might be surprised by the feeling of curious satisfaction at rendering scrutable the heretofore inscrutable.

- Ahi

Last edited by ahi; 07-24-2009 at 11:47 AM.
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-24-2009, 11:45 AM   #14
Abecedary
Exwyzeeologist
Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.Abecedary could sell banana peel slippers to a Deveel.
 
Abecedary's Avatar
 
Posts: 535
Karma: 3261
Join Date: Jun 2009
Device: :PRS-505::iPod touch:
Quote:
Originally Posted by dadioflex View Post
http://www.borrett.id.au/computing/petals-bg.htm

That's one of my favourite puzzle stories.
Finally had a chance to read that. That one was too easy. Give us a harder one.

EDIT: Okay, I posted the above after reading through the first 3 or 4 throws and figuring out how it worked. Now I've really read the whole story. It certainly seems to explain a bit about how billg works.

Last edited by Abecedary; 07-24-2009 at 11:51 AM.
Abecedary is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-25-2009, 10:48 PM   #15
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Edit: updated PDF with a third manuscript.

Alright, Ladies and Gents!

Find attached a 6" screen sized PDF, with two examples. (If you need larger font, just let me know.) Please, please, read the below explanatory bit before you get started though, to save yourself potentially avoidable frustration. (Also, I'm not philosophically opposed to an ePub version, but must decline the honour of being the one to make it.)

Extracts from the archives of
The Crazed Avar

This is (i.e.: will be) a collection of notes, letters, and excerpts from the personal library of the man (yet to be bestowed with a full name by me) colloquially known as "The Crazed Avar".

The Crazed Avar suffered (or, if one perceives the publishing date of the book[-to-be], will suffer) from a rather inconstant sort of madness, with definite periods of lucidity, and much time spent hovering on the edge of madness.

Most of his writings are in English, albeit rarely in the appropriate latin script used for English in the early 21st century. Of those manuscripts that are addressed to somebody, the addressee (on account of the madness) is often either non-contemporary to the Avar or altogether non-existent. Likewise, his signature lines rarely reference himself as the author.

The two manuscripts are the easiest of their respective sorts. i.e.: The first one is likely the easiest cyrillic-based "code" (if despite its simplicity one can call it that) the book is likely to ever employ, and the second one, (one of) the simplest han character based code.

While with the first one, it's easy to cheat either via the internet or a Russian dictionary/language book--people might find it more rewarding not to cheat. With the second one, I cannot think of any way to cheat--you will need to think, observe, and make notes to solve it. But don't worry, it is solvable despite being a somewhat short manuscript.

And once you have solved what each piece says, I greatly encourage that you try to figure out what they mean. In both cases, it ought to be possible with reasonable effort, and this search for meaning is actually meant to be a part of the overall experience.

If you are an intellectually curious sort, there is a good chance you will enjoy them. And if you are, but you don't, please tell me why, and what you think I could do differently to help you enjoy the next set.

- Ahi
Attached Files
File Type: pdf excerpts.pdf (82.4 KB, 571 views)

Last edited by ahi; 07-26-2009 at 03:08 PM.
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Non-Breaking Hyphen DTM Sigil 11 08-20-2010 01:09 PM
Non breaking spaces? troymc Sigil 6 05-22-2010 07:47 AM
Let's create a source code repository for DR 800 related code? jraf iRex 3 03-11-2010 12:26 PM
Battery cover breaking tompe Bookeen 17 03-04-2009 10:03 AM
Mysteriously breaking screen JSWolf Sony Reader 30 11-14-2008 05:11 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:57 PM.


MobileRead.com is a privately owned, operated and funded community.