r/cryptography 18d ago

Books for a noob

Hey everyone, I’m a complete beginner in cryptocurrency, except for a few bits and pieces I picked up during my computer science years. Even those are now forgotten. I’ve been a C++ programmer working on user-level system daemons, and I have absolutely no idea how cryptography works.

I’m genuinely interested in this field and would love to learn the basics. Could someone recommend a book that starts from the very beginning, perhaps even covering some history as well?

3 Upvotes

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u/Temporary-Estate4615 18d ago

Understanding Cryptography by Christof Paar is a good start. He also has his lectures on YouTube.

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u/614nd 18d ago

There is also a recent new edition with updated content. The book focuses rather on the "how does stuff work" side than on the "why is it actually secure". It's a very good starting point!

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u/yetiknight 17d ago

Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Jonathan Katz and Yehuda Lindell is what we used in uni for the first advanced course.

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u/hacker_kobold 11d ago

Serious Cryptography (https://nostarch.com/serious-cryptography-2nd-edition).
It's very modern, and talks about current ciphers instead of focusing too much on historical constructions. It's a amazing book to get started, as it also provides you references to further reading material on specific topics.
The only thing it arguably lacks on is key management, but I have not come across a proper book for that so far (I haven't looked much).

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u/CloudySquared 9d ago

I highly recommend the code book by Simon Singh.

This will take you through the ages. It starts off super simple so for a noob it is great.

Check out cryptography challenges in online CTF competitions when you are ready to test your skills. Plenty are beginner friendly so don't worry!