Fantastic way to start your crypto learning adventure.

Of course Bruce's book (even the second edition) is very dated in terms of the specific ciphers and hash functions that are prominently featured. But those will continue to evolve as time passes; no book is going to capture the modern developments for long.

The real value of Applied Cryptography is the fundamental understanding (and interest, in my case) it helps to build. Intros to terminology, theory, practical implementations, attack models, and protocol weaknesses are outlined here in great detail. I can honestly say that this book - along with lots of openssl / gnupg tinkering - have put a functional (for my sysadmin purposes) cryptography foundation within my grasp.

NB: this book is old enough that it pays to shop around for a used copy in good condition.

Other Reviews

• Fantastic way to start your crypto learning adventure.
• No CD
• Good but starting to show its age
• BS grade.
• A great book for start in Cryptography