David Leavitt’s Spy Tale
David Leavitt agreed to write an original short story for Studio 360’s Science & Creativity series, and said he wanted to write about book codes, a venerable, low-tech way of encrypting secrets using any printed book. We put him in touch with cryptographer Steve Bellovin, a professor at Columbia University and a major figure in internet encryption. After their conversation, Leavitt wrote an original story for Studio 360 called The Cheese Pastries of Sintra. It’s read for us by actor Ed Herbstman. Produced by Sarah Lilley.
Bonus Track: The Cheese Pastries of Sintra David Leavitt’s original story about cryptography, espionage, and pastry-themed codes, read by Ed Herbstman
embed_audio(
‘http://audio.wnyc.org/studioblog/studioblog050611_sintra.mp3’,
‘id1172639752795d5c2dcbc-22a3-4b13-b868-cf2482d60f78’,
400,
”,
”
);
U.S. Department of State Code D-1, issued for classified communication in 1929 (Ryan Somma/flickr)
The article you just read is free because dedicated readers and listeners like you chose to support our nonprofit newsroom. Our team works tirelessly to ensure you hear the latest in international, human-centered reporting every weekday. But our work would not be possible without you. We need your help.
Make a gift today to help us raise $67,000 by the end of the year and keep The World going strong. Every gift will get us one step closer to our goal!