Hacker News Reader

That’s almost certainly (the first edition of) the book in this post.

Did it involve a story about kids communicating at night with flashlights? Yup, that's the first edition.

Yes, ok thanks that’s the one. I’ll have to buy the first edition. It was very impactful to me.

I'm sure this new edition will have the same early chapters, just extend further. This is not a 2nd volume but a 2nd edition

Yes, I'm reading the second edition now, it contains those chapters.

I had a very similar experience. I read the book from the library as a kid. I originally thought it was to do with ciphers, as I was into codes then. It introduced me to the programming section of the library, and I expanded to the math section from there. A couple of STEM degrees later and here I am.