From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sun, 1 May 94 18:44:28 PDT
To: koontzd@lrcs.loral.com (David Koontz)
Subject: Re: Crypto books
In-Reply-To: <9405020131.AA18357@io.lrcs.loral.com>
Message-ID: <199405020145.SAA01427@netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


David Koontz writes:

> >From: Karl Lui Barrus <klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu>
> 
> >I have this book - "Cryptography and Secure Communications" by Man
> >Young Rhee.  It covers basic cryptography (number theory, DES, block
> >ciphers, stream ciphers, public key systems) and also communications
> >(BCH codes, Reed-Solomon Codes, Error control for cryptosystems).
> 
> If you like the Meyer/Matras book 'Crptography', you'll like this one.
> 

Hoo boy, I _hate_ the Meyer & Matras "Cryptography" (1982) book! (I
shelled out $60 in 1987 for this one, and that was a lot of money for
a book back then.)  Intensely dry and detailed on DES, with few if any
"big picture" analyses, and no mention of modern protocols of the sort
that usually interest us. Given the publication date, and the authors'
employment at IBM (in the Lucifer/DES group), this is not all that
surprising.

I've only skimmed the Rhee book. In fact, I almost skimmed it again
this afternoon at Barnes and Noble, due to the mention by Karl.

My VERY STRONG OPINION (sorry for raising my voice) is that Schneier's
book is all ye know and all ye need to know! That is, you folks out
there asking about crypto books should immediately acquire Schneier's
book...others have said this and it is manifestly so.

If you finish Schneier, you'll be well-prepared to evaluate the other
books, based on your own special interests and abilities.

--Tim May



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