[4816] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: entry level cryptography books
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Markus Kuhn)
Tue Jun 1 15:04:20 1999
To: "MIKE SHAW" <mas@sbscorp.com>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net
In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 01 Jun 1999 10:43:19 CDT."
<s753b962.090@sbscorp.com>
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 18:10:13 +0100
From: Markus Kuhn <Markus.Kuhn@cl.cam.ac.uk>
"MIKE SHAW" wrote on 1999-06-01 15:43 UTC:
> Can anyone recommend some entry level cryptography books?
> I'm looking for something that will just start to get into the
> nitty-gritty of the math involved.
Those who are more comfortable with reading German than Mathematics and
who are looking for a really entry-level book will enjoy
Alfred Beutelspacher: Kryptologie.
Vieweg, 1996, ISBN 3-528-48990-1, 34.00 DEM, 179 p.
"Eine Einfuehrung in die Wissenschaft vom Verschl=FCsseln, Verbergen
und Verheimlichen; ohne alle Geheimniskr=E4merei, aber nicht ohne
hinterlistigen Schalk, dargestellt zum Nutzen und Erg=F6tzen des
allgemeinen Publikums."
This is a very well-written book by a German professor of mathematics
that specifically addresses the non-specialist reader that is scared by
mathematics but has a desire to learn about cryptography and its
applications. Lots of nice bed-time reading stories about Alice, Bob,
and friends, covering a surprising range or cryptographic protocols with
extremely little formal ballast in a rather entertaining way.
I don't know unfortunately, whether someone has translated it already
into English.
[Canonical answers:
Schneier, "Applied Cryptography"
Menezes & Oorschot, "Handbook of Applied Cryptography".]
Scheier is a book for the applied mind (programmer and application
designer) without much interest in theoretical foundations, Menezes &
Oorschot is for someone looking for a comprehensive treatment of the
field. "Stinson: Cryptography - Theory and Practice, CRC Press" is also
a good addition to that list, especially if it is for a university
course, since it does provide a better fundamental treatment than
especially Schneier without trying to be as comprehensive as Menezes &
Oorschot.
Markus
-- =
Markus G. Kuhn, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK
Email: mkuhn at acm.org, WWW: <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/>
