Cryptography: Theory and Practice (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications)

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book on Cryptography
Review: This book is well suited for software developers, students, and research scientists alike. The first edition has proven to be an invaluable source of information on cryptology. The second edition covers a subset of the material from the first edition. However, the text has been revised, expanded, and new material has been added that covers more recent results in the field. A forthcomming companion book has been promised that will cover the remaining material (e.g., zero-knowledge proof systems). Readers that are interested in combinatorics should also consider picking up a copy of "Combinatorial Algorithms: Generation, Enumeration, and Search" by Stinson and Kreher.

Rating:
Summary: Reasonable but overpriced book
Review: This is the textbook for an undergraduate math course in cryptography in my school, so it was forced on me. The author does a good job introducing the theory and background math, but I would say there are not enough examples worked out to understand how it is used. For instance, Chapter 2 on information theory and entropy was difficult for me and the treatment in the book was too abstract, with just one example cryptosystem worked out. Other than that, it is pretty good, and some sections are particularly well-written (eg on block ciphers, AES, etc). Only 3 stars since it's much too expensive!(considering this is only volume 1 <2 is in the works, if not completed yet> - what a rip-off scheme.)

Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Book on Cryptography
Review: Very good book if you are interested in criptography and secret maths. Not many publication on this topic are written as clear as this. Other like Neal Koblitz's Book on criptography is a lot harder for people on lower level of maths knowledge. I recomed it to those who want to learn something or for those who want to refresh their memory .