Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good information to get you started; comes with C source too
Comment: This is one of the few cryptograhpy book that can be fun to read. It is also a catalogue containing quite a number of algorithms along with readable explanations that make it easy to understand. However, if the reader doesn't understand what an XOR operation is, this book can be quite hard to finish. No in depth maths here. I bought this book in 99 and found it useful, because it helped me gain insight, into the practical application of crytograhpy in my programming endevours. Glancing through the C source code at the end of the book started me thinking on the code implementation in my efforts. A stimulating read. Fours stars because I was hoping for more goodies. Beware!!! Some people around you might think that this book is written in a language resembling english, all about Alice, Bob, Carol, Mallory and company.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Worth the money?
Comment: Did anybody mention that you have to pay extra if you want to get the source code? There is no CD included. The author includes one of those "send check or money order to..." advertisements at the end of the book. ...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive
Comment: This is a comprehensive guide to both the protocols and the algorithms. The author supplies a lengthy list for furhter reading as well. The source code is shipped to North American readers at extra cost. Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Explains everything
Comment: This book has really shed a lot of light on cryptography for me. I honestly can't put it down--I wish I had paid more attention in my statistics classes so I could be able to apply some of the stuff the author talks about better. I am about half way through the book, and I haven't gotten to the point where it's more of a chore than a pleasure to read it (something I can't about my other technical books). Get it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: The all-time best crypto reference ever
Comment: Sometimes you must choose either clarity (for the newbies) or in-depth obscure explanations (for the experts). Bruce Schneier has done the great job of joining the two aspects together. He explains things clearly and even playfully. He enjoys teaching, he enjoys cryptography and you can tell it from his style. But he does not stop there: he explains things in depth whenever possible and useful, and tries to explain how a cryptosystem is evaluated, how to choose between algorithms, and how to correctly implement cryptography in your works. This book is an absolute must have for everyone interested in cryptography, and can substitute very well even an academic course on the matter.
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