The review about this product
Depending on what level of rigor one wishes, this is either an excellent book or an adequate book.First, the negatives -- this book is several years old, and the cryptography community moves as rapidly as most other computer industries. So, it feels dated, and completely misses out on the AES candidates and the AES winner, Rijndael.The positives -- this book is comprehensive. It covers practically all topics of modern cryptography in some detail, and -- the real gem of the book -- contains a bibliography with over 1500 entries. This book also provides for a wonderfully gentle introduction to cryptography; it doesn't assume the reader already knows the subject.Where this book is likely to falter is in the rigorousness category -- this book was not intended for a mathematical or theoretical work. This book was intended to convey the ideas of cryptography to people who would be asked to implement cryptographic protocols or schemes designed by others. As such, I feel it does a good job.Those that are more experienced may find the book useful for its comprehensive bibliography: check the table of contents for subjects, read the passages, and track down the references. Very easy, and very fast. (... has links to many of the references, though without the topical index afforded by the text.)
