Herbert O. Yardley (1889–1958)

1/30/23

Introduction by Ian Fleming

The American Black Chamber is a 1931 book by Herbert O. Yardley. The book describes the inner workings of the interwar American governmental cryptography organization called the Black Chamber.

Much of Yardley's technical advice has been surpassed by a new generation of thinking and computer simulations but his human observations and advice on how to understand what is happening at a poker table are timeless.

An added benefit is to see into the mind of someone who was highly successful in other interesting endeavors.

Judging the book for what it was and when it was written, it was a technical masterpiece that provided more reliable information than anything before it;