



Selections in Technical Cryptography

Including Math, Programming and General Security

Anyone who wishes to support the work on these pages can do so at almost no cost to themselves, simply by ordering the books they would normally buy through our links to the Amazon.com bookstore. To suggest or comment on books, send an email to ritter@ciphersbyritter.com.

Amazon.com will be responsible for all customer service, including payment processing, ordering, shipping, order status reports and even returns of any kind. If you have any questions about your order, please start at the Amazon.com home page.

Contents



Search For Books

Enter Keywords:



First Author Index

Introduction

Which books you might want largely depends upon where you are and where you are going. First, almost everybody can and should read The Codebreakers as a serious introduction to cryptography. Beyond that, Decrypted Secrets and The Pleasures of Counting are both readable and informative.

If you just want some cipher code, you can get that from various web and ftp sites. If you just want to understand some of what people are talking about, Applied Cryptography is often mentioned.

If you want a serious modern textbook, try Cryptography and Network Security. If you want a fairly solid technical reference, you should have Handbook of Applied Cryptography.

Beyond this, there are a wide range of detailed topics which each deserve one or two book-size references. It is much easier to read a book on this stuff than to try and dope it out on your own. But many things are not yet in books.

The Most Important Book

The most important book in cryptography is:

The Codebreakers; The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, by David Kahn.

(Hardcover, 1181 pages, 1996, basically a reprint of the 1967 classic.)

The Codebreakers is the detailed history of cryptography, a book of depth, style and adventure. It is non-mathematical and generally non-technical. The author does explain in easy terms why some simple ciphers fail to hide information; these are often the same problems addressed by increasingly capable cryptosystems. Various accounts show how real cryptography is far more than just cipher "algorithms." A very good read.

Crypto Background

Spy Catcher : The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, by Peter Wright.

(Hardcover, 392 pages, Viking, 1987, Out of Print)

Spy Catcher places the technology in the context of reality. While having little on cryptography per se, it has a lot on security, on which cryptography is necessarily based. Understanding real-world security is a very important part of an education in cryptography. Also a good read.

The Puzzle Palace : A Report on America's Most Secret Agency, by James Bamford.

(Paperback, Viking Press, 1983)

The Puzzle Palace is the best description we have of the National Security Agency (NSA), which has been the dominant force in cryptography in the US since WWII.

Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis, by Cipher A. Deavours, Louis Kruh.

(Hardback, Artech House, 1985, Out of Print)

Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, by Cipher A. Deavours, David Kahn, Louis Kruh, Greg Mellen.

(Hardback, 519 pages, Artech House, 1987, Out of Print)

Cryptology: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow is a readable and wide-ranging collection of some of the best articles from Cryptologia. Three sections: History, Machines, and Mathematics. Very interesting.

Cryptology: Machines, History and Methods, by Cipher Deavours, David Kahn.

(Hardback, Artech House, 1989, Out of Print)

Selections from Cryptologia: History, People and Technology, by Cipher A. Deavours.

(Hardcover, 540 pages, Artech House, 1998)

Crypto Reference

Handbook of Applied Cryptography (CRC Press Series on Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications), by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. Van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone.

(Hardcover, 816 pages, CRC Press, 1997)

The Handbook of Applied Cryptography is simply one of the best technical references available.

Cryptography and Network Security: Principles and Practice, by William Stallings.

(Hardcover, 569 pages, Prentice Hall, 2nd ed, 1998)

Cryptography and Network Security is an introductory text and a reference for actual implementations. It covers both conventional and public-key cryptography (including authentication). It also covers web security, as in Kerberos, PGP, S/MIME, and SSL. It covers real ciphers and real systems using ciphers.

Contemporary Cryptology : The Science of Information Integrity, by Gustavus J. Simmons (Editor).

(Hardcover, 640 pages, IEEE Press, 1992)

Contemporary Cryptology, is a collection of articles by various authors. We have Rueppel on Stream Ciphers, Diffie on the history of Public Key Cryptography, and Simmons on Authentication. We also have various other articles, including ones DES, Public Key Crypto, Cryptanalysis, and Protocol Failures. An interesting and useful collection.

Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C, by Bruce Schneier.

(Paperback, John Wiley & Sons, 1996)

Applied Cryptography collects in one place many academic and popular cipher "algorithms" and protocols. This book is ideal for looking up design details when a name is tossed out. A two-edged sword is the inclusion of C code for many ciphers, which is easy to use, but also easy to misuse: Most ciphers have significant weaknesses when not properly applied, and application issues are not well addressed here. A popular favorite.

Cryptography: A New Dimension in Computer Data Security; A Guide for the Design and Implementation of Secure Systems, by Carl H. Meyer and Stephen M. Matyas.

(Hardcover, 755 pages, John Wiley & Sons, 1982)

The first author of Cryptography: A New Dimension in Computer Data Security, was one of the designers of DES. The book is directed toward DES, but has a sections on network security, key generation, distribution and management. There are some especially tasty sections on calculation, including: Measures of Secrecy for Cryptographic Systems,



Analysis of the Number of Meaningful Messages in a Redundant Language, and



Unicity Distance Computations.

Cryptography: Theory and Practice (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications), by Douglas R. Stinson.

(Hardcover, 448 pages, CRC Press, 1995)

Cryptology (Spectrum Series), by Albrecht Beutelspacher.

(Paperback, Mathematical Assn of America, 1994)

Internet Cryptography, by Richard E. Smith.

(Paperback, 356 pages, Addison-Wesley, 1997)

Encyclopedia of Cryptology, by David E. Newton.

(Hardcover, 360 pages, Abc-Clio, 1997)

Codes and Cryptography, by Dominic Welsh.

(Paperback, 257 pages, Oxford Univ Press, 1988)

Java Cryptography, by Jonathan B. Knudsen.

(Paperback, 250 pages, O'Reilly, 1998)

Understanding Set : Visa International's Official Guide to Secure Electronic Transactions, by Gail Grant.

(Paperback, 275 pages, McGraw-Hill, 1998)

Using Set for Secure Electronic Transactions, by Grady N. Drew.

(Paperback, 350 pages, Bk&Cd Rom, Prentice Hall, 1998)

Stream Ciphers

Analysis and Design of Stream Ciphers, by Ranier Reuppel.

(Hardcover, Springer Verlag, 1986)

Stream Ciphers and Number Theory, by Thomas W. Cusick, C. Ding, Ari Renvall.

(Hardcover, Elsevier Science, 1998)

The Stability Theory of Stream Ciphers, by C. Ding, G. Xiao, W. Shan.

(Paperback, Springer Verlag, 1992)

Number Theory

Elementary Number Theory, by David M. Burton.

(Hardcover, McGraw Hill Text, 4th ed, 1997)

Number Theory in Science and Communication: With Applications in Cryptography, Physics, Digital Information, Computing, and Self-Similarity, by Manfred Schroeder.

(Paperback, 420 pages, Springer Verlag, 3rd ed, 1997)

A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography, by Neal I. Koblitz.

(Hardcover, 235 pages, Springer Verlag, 2nd ed, 1994)

A Course in Computational Algebraic Number Theory, by Henri Cohen.

(Hardcover, Springer Verlag, 1993)

Number Theory with Computer Applications, by Ramanujachary Kumanduri and Christina Romero.

(Hardcover, 550 pages, Prentice Hall, 1997)

Algorithmic Number Theory : Efficient Algorithms, by Eric Bach, Jeffrey Shallit, Jeffery Shallit.

(Hardcover, MIT Press, 1996)

Other Math

An Introduction to Kolmogorov Complexity and Its Applications, by Ming Li, Paul Vitanyi.

(Hardcover, 642 pages, Springer Verlag, 2nd ed, 1997)

Discrete Mathematics Using Latin Squares, by Charles F. Laywine and Gary L. Mullen.

(Wiley, 1998)

Algebra : An Approach Via Module Theory, by William A. Adkins and Steven H. Weintraub.

(Hardcover, Springer Verlag, 1992)

Prime Numbers and Computer Methods for Factorization, by Hans Riesel.

(Hardcover, Birkhauser, 2nd ed, 1994)

Introduction to Elliptic Curves and Modular Forms, by Neal Koblitz.

(Hardcover, Springer Verlag, 2nd ed, 1993)

Algebraic Aspects of Cryptography, by Neal Koblitz.

(Hardcover, 224 pages, Springer Verlag, 1993)

Implementing Elliptic Curve Cryptography, by Michael Rosing.

(Paperback, 338 pages, Manning Publications, 1998)

Pseudorandomness and Cryptographic Applications, by Michael George Luby.

(Paperback, 234 pages, Princeton Univ Pr, 1996)

The Limits of Mathematics : A Course on Information Theory and Limits of Formal Reasoning (Springer Series in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical...), by Gregory J. Chaitin.

(Hardcover, 160 pages, Springer Verlag, 1997)

New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics : An Anthology, by Thomas Tymoczko (Editor).

(Paperback, 448 pages, Princeton Univ Pr, 1998)

Crypto Policy

Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption, by Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau.

(Hardcover, 352 pages, MIT Press, 1998)

Cryptanalysis

Normally, cryptanalysis is thought of as the way ciphers are "broken." But cryptanalysis is really analysis -- the ways we come to understand a cipher in detail. Since most ciphers have weaknesses, a deep understanding can expose the best attacks for a particular cipher.

Decrypted Secrets : Methods and Maxims of Cryptology, by Friedrich Bauer.

(Hardcover, 447 pages, Springer Verlag, 1997)

Decrypted Secrets is a broad introduction to actual cryptographic techniques and systems of WWII or earlier vintage. There is mathematics, but it is generally discussed in the context of actual ciphers. There are many textual descriptions, graphs and figures. Almost half the book concerns attacks on classic and WWII ciphers.

The Pleasures of Counting, by T. W. Korner.

(Paperback, 534 pages, Cambridge University Press, 1997)

The Pleasures of Counting is a very unusual book. While basically mathematical in approach, it presents readable, detailed descriptions of real problems, often concerning sea action in WWII. The math itself is intended as an introduction to real mathematics for high-school prodigies, and is very accessible. There are two or three important chapters (out of 19 total) concerning Enigma and attacking Enigma messages, but the whole book is a joy to read and contemplate.

Statistical Methods in Cryptanalysis, by Solomon Kullback.

(Softcover, Aegean Park, 1976; original publication 1938)

Statistical Methods in Cryptanalysis is first a statistics text, with tests oriented toward classical cryptanalysis.

Scientific and Engineering Problem-Solving with the Computer, by William Bennett, Jr.

(Hardback, 457 pages, Prentice-Hall, 1976, Out of Print)

Scientific and Engineering Problem-Solving with the Computer is basically an introduction to computer problem-solving text intended for students in both humanities and physical sciences. There are various significant sections, including: Programming in Basic



Dynamics



Wave Motion and Fourier Series



Electronics and Communication

but the two of most interest here might be: Language (monkeys on typewriters, correlation matrices, entropy, ciphers, etc.), and



Random Processes (Brownian motion, Poisson distribution, Monte Carlo, least squares, etc.).

Cracking Des : Secrets of Encryption Research, Wiretap Politics & Chip Design, John Gilmore (Ed).

(Paperback, 272 pages, O'Reilly, 1998)

European Scrambling Systems, by John McCormac.

(Hardcover, Baylin Systems, 5th ed, 1998)

Elementary Course In Probability For The Cryptanalyst, by Andrew M. Gleason.

(Paperback, 166 pages, Aegean Park Press, 1998)

Satellite Encryption, by John R. Vacca.

(Paperback, 800 pages, Academic Pr, 1998)

Classic Ciphers

Classical "pen and paper" ciphers might be thought to be simpler and thus easier to understand and analyze than modern ciphers. But, lacking even basic tools like:

Books often mentioned as introductions to classical cryptanalysis include:

Cryptanalysis: a Study of Ciphers and Their Solutions, by Helen Fouche Gaines.

(Paperback, 1939)

Cryptanalysis: a Study of Ciphers and Their Solutions is one of the bibles of classic ciphering. It presents some general concepts, specific ciphers, and various attacks. It would almost lead one to believe that there are no secure classic ciphers.

Elementary Cryptanalysis: A Mathematical Approach (New Mathematical Library, No 22), by Abraham Sinkov.

(Paperback, 1980)

Elementary Cryptanalysis, while less ambitious than Gaines, also has the benefit of 40 years more experience linking math into the analysis of even classic ciphers. Various Basic programs in an appendix assist analysis, but are not used in the text. The author was a WWII hero for codebreaking, and later a Deputy Director of NSA, but this is not part of the book.

Classical Cryptography Course, Vol 1, by Randall K. Nichols.

(Paperback, 301 pages, Aegean Park Press)

Classical Cryptography Course, Vol 2, by Randall K. Nichols.

(Paperback, 452 pages, Aegean Park Press)

Hobby Cryptography : 86 Classical Ciphers Classified & Updated, by Clayton Pierce.

(Paperback, 3rd ed, 1997)

Secret Ciphers of the Eighteen Seventy-Six Presidential Election, by D. Beaird Glover.

(Hardcover, Aegean Park Pr, 1992)

Steganography

Hiding information so that it is not even known to be there.

Disappearing Cryptography, by Peter Wayner.

(Paperback, 295 pages, Academic Press, 1996).

Disappearing Cryptography is mainly steganography, but also has short chapters on: Error Correction, and



Secret Sharing. It includes the Mimic program in Pascal to illustrate how information can be hidden in apparently innocuous text. Also discusses hiding information in images, anonymous remailers and broadcast messages.

Randomness

The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms, by Donald Knuth.

(Hardcover, 762 pages, Addison-Wesley, 3rd ed, 1997)

The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms is a classic computer science text, now recently updated. Of interest here is the long chapter on random numbers, taking up about 1/4 of the volume. This is probably the best single source on the design of random number generators, and on testing those generators.

Electrical Noise Fundamentals and Sources, by Madhu S. Gupta (Ed.).

(Paperback, 361 pages, IEEE Press, 1977)

Electrical Noise Fundamentals and Sources is a collection of 22 reprints of important papers on electrical noise. Includes a survey by J. B. Johnson of "Johnson noise" fame, as well as papers by Pierce and Oliver. Sections include: Historical Development,



Physical Theory of Noise, and



Noise in Electron Devices.

Introduction to the Theory of Random Signals and Noise, by Wilbur B., Jr. Davenport, William L. Root.

(Hardcover, IEEE Press, 1987)

Information Randomness and Incompleteness (Series in Computer Science : Volume 8), by G. J. Chaitin.

(Paperback, World Scientific, 1990)

Algorithms for Random Generation and Counting : A Markov Chain Approach (Progress in Theoretical Computer Science), by Alistair Sinclair.

(Hardcover, Birkhauser, 1993)

Statistics

Statistics is where theoretical math and practical reality meet: It is the way we interpret experiments in the context of the random sampling of the real world.

Also see the section on numerical routines.

Statistics the Easy Way, by Douglas Downing, Jeff Clark.

(Paperback, 352 pages, Barrons Educational Series, 3rd ed, 1997)

Statistics the Easy Way is one of the Barrons books intended to supplement a college first course text. It is inexpensive, unusually clear, and covers the full range of the usual first course.

Elements of Statistical Inference, by David V. Huntsberger, Patrick Billingsley.

(6th Ed., Paperback, WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1987)

Elements of Statistical Inference is a college text for a first course in statistics. I used the second edition in my first statistics course, and I use it still.

Reasoning With Statistics: How to Read Quantitative Research, by Frederick Williams.

(Paperback, 220 pages, Hbj College & School Div, 4th ed, 1992)

Reasoning with Statistics is a survey and explanation of statistics for professional users, rather than a course text. It is smaller, more-condensed, and directed at a higher level than the texts above.

The Probability Tutoring Book : An Intuitive Course for Engineers and Scientists (And Everyone Else!), by Carol Ash.

(Paperback, IEEE Press, 1993)

An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. 1, by William Feller.

(Hardcover, 528 pages, Wiley, Vol. 1, 3rd ed, 1968)

An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications, Vol. 2, by William Feller.

(Hardcover, 704 pages, Wiley, Vol. 2, 2nd ed, 1971)

An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications is a true classic. Note that volume 2 has been described as postgraduate level. I would describe volume 1 as science upper-undergraduate level, quite suitable for independent study.

Probability and Measure (Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics), by Patrick Billinglsey, Patrick Billingsley.

(Hardcover, 608 pages, Wiley, 1995)

Stochastic Processes (Wiley Classics Library), by Joseph L. Doob.

(Paperback, Wiley, 1990)

Bayesian Theory (Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics), by Jose M. Bernardo, Adrian F. Smith.

(Paperback, 604 pages, Wiley, 1994)

Bayes and Empirical Bayes Methods for Data Analysis, by Bradley P. Carlin, Thomas A. Louis.

(Hardcover, 352 pages, Chapman & Hall, 1996)

Likelihood, by Anthony William Fairbank Edwards.

(Paperback, 275 pages, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 1992)

Maximum Likelihood Estimation : Logic and Practice (A Sage University Papers Series: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, No 96), by Scott R. Eliason.

(Paperback, Sage Pubns, 1993)

Introduction to the Numerical Solution of Markov Chains, by William J. Stewart.

(Hardcover, 539 pages, Princeton Univ Pr, 1995)

Markov Chain Monte Carlo in Practice, by W. R. Gilks, S. Richardson, D. J. Spiegelhalter.

(Hardcover, Chapman & Hall, 1996)

Markov Chain Monte Carlo : Stochastic Simulation for Bayesian Inference (Texts in Statistical Science), by Dani Gamerman.

(Paperback, Chapman & Hall, 1997)

Bayesian Data Analysis (Chapman & Hall Texts in Statistical Science Series), by Andrew Gelman, John B. Carlin, Hal S. Stern, Donald B. Rubin.

(Hardcover, Chapman & Hall, 1995)

Markov Chains (Statistical & Probabilistic Mathematics Series No. 2), by J. Norris.

(Paperback, 253 pages, Cambridge Univ Pr, 1998)

Matrix-Geometric Solutions in Stochastic Models: An Algorithmic Approach, by Marcel F. Neuts.

(Paperback, 332 pages, Dover, 1995)

Information Theory

An Introduction to Information Theory : Symbols, Signals and Noise, by John Robinson Pierce.

(Paperback, 305 pages, Dover, 1980)

Information Theory, by Robert B. Ash.

(Paperback, 339 pages, Dover, 1990)

An Introduction to Information Theory, by Fazlollah M. Raza, Fazlollah M. Reza.

(Paperback, 496 pages, Dover, 1994)

Elements of Information Theory (Wiley Series in Telecommunication), by Thomas M. Cover, Joy A. Thomas.

(Paperback, 576 pages, Wiley, 1991)

Information Theory and Statistics (Dover Books on Mathematics), by Solomon Kullback.

(Paperback, 416 pages, Dover, 1997)

Numerical Routines

Numerical Recipes is generally one of the best references both for understanding how to use statistics and for presenting the functions involved in computer language listings. But the book actually covers a wide range of numerical topics and functions. There are different volumes for different computer languages, plus software on disk. The software is just a machine-readable version of the listings printed in the book.

First, we have the "Example Books," and if you just want the function listings for a particular computer language (maybe you have one of the other versions of the book), these may be for you:

Then we have the standard volume in C, plus its machine-readable listings on CD-ROM:

Then we have the standard volume in Fortran, plus its machine-readable listings on CD-ROM:

Numerical Recipes in Fortran: The Art of Scientific Computing, by William H. Press, Saul A. Teukolsky, William T. Vetterling.

(Hardcover, 963 pages, Cambridge University Press, 1992) Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN; The Art of Scientific Computing, by William H. Press.

(Software, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed, 1992)

Then we have the standard volume in an older Pascal version and a Basic "companion manual":

Numerical Recipes in Pascal: The Art of Scientific Computing, by William H. Press, Brian P. Flannery.

(Hardcover, Cambridge University Press, 1989) Numerical Recipes Routines and Examples in Basic: Companion Manual to Numerical Recipes: The Art of Scientific Computing, by Julien C. Sprott.

(Paperback, 398 pages, Cambridge University Press, 1991)

Then we have the newer work, basically on parallel computing:

Numerical Recipes in Fortran 90: The Art of Parallel Scientific Computing (Fortran Numerical Recipes, Vol 2), by William H. Press (Editor), Saul A. Teukolsky.

(Hardcover, Cambridge University Press, 1996) Numerical Recipes in Fortran 77 and Fortran 90: The Art of Scientific and Parallel Computing, by William H. Press, Saul A. Teukolsky, William T. Vetterling.

(Software, Cambridge University Press, 1997)

Coding Theory

The main reason for mentioning error-correcting codes here is not really for the codes themselves (which may be interesting, but probably more applicable for communications). Instead, these texts are some of the best introductions to Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR's), arithmetic mod 2, and polynomial math mod 2, all of which are very important in cryptography.

Shift Register Sequences, by Solomon W. Golomb.

(Paperback, 247 pages, Aegean Park Press, 1982)

Shift Register Sequences is an incredible example of analysis. Starting the from concept of shift registers and how they work, the general theory of maximal-length LFSR design is developed in about the first 50 pages. This is a mathematical development based on the concept of a shift-register, but effectively answers how and why LFSR's work.

A Commonsense Approach to the Theory of Error Correcting Codes (MIT Press Series in Computer Systems), by Benjamin Arazi.

(Hardcover, MIT Press, 1988)

A Commonsense Approach to the Theory of Error Correcting Codes is a true introduction, in which the many diagrams and examples are a welcome relief from texts which follow a bare mathematical development. Most of the book is concerned with LFSR's in various forms, including the maximal-length version so often used in cryptography.

Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes, by Richard E. Blahut.

(Hardcover, 500 pages, Addison-Wesley, 1983, Out of Print)

Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes is a very serious technical and mathematical text on communications codings. But it also has one of the better introductions to general Galois field and polynomial arithmetic.

Error Control Coding, by Shu Lin, Daniel J. Costello.

(Hardcover, 603 pages, Prentice-Hall, 1983)

Error Control Coding is another very technical and mathematical text on communications codings. It is apparently more available than Blahut, and does have a reasonable introduction to Galois field and polynomial arithmetic.

Foundations of Coding : Theory and Applications of Error-Correcting Codes With an Introduction to Cryptography and Information Theory, by Jiri Adamek.

(Hardcover, 336 pages, Wiley-Interscience, 1991)

Digital Speech

Statistical Methods for Speech Recognition (Language, Speech, and Communication), by Frederick Jelinek.

(Hardcover, 300 pages, MIT Press, 1999)

Fundamentals of Speech Recognition (Prentice Hall Signal Processing Series), by Lawrence Rabiner, Biing-Hwang Juang, Bilng-Hwang Juang.

(Hardcover, 507 pages, Prentice Hall, 1993)

Hidden Markov Models : Estimation and Control (Applications of Mathematics, Vol 29), by Robert J. Elliott, Lakhdar Aggoun, John B. Moore.

(Hardcover, 361 pages, Springer Verlag, 1995)

Hidden Markov and Other Models for Discrete-Valued Time Series (Monographs on Statistics and Applied Probability, 70), by Iain L. MacDonald, W. Zucchini.

(Hardcover, Chapman & Hall, 1997)

Digital Speech : Coding for Low Bit Rate Communication Systems (Wiley Series in Communication and Distributed Systems), by A. Kindoz, A. M. Kondoz.

(Paperback, 456 pages, Wiley, 1995)

Speech Coding : A Computer Laboratory Textbook (Georgia Tech Digital Signal Processing Laboratory Series), by Kambiz Nayebi, Craig H. Richardson, Thomas P. Barnwell.

(Paperback, 208 pages, Wiley, 1995)

Electronics

The Art of Electronics, by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill.

(Hardcover, 1125 pages, Cambridge University Press, 1989)

The Art of Electronics is a wonderful, wide-ranging book on modern electronics as it is actually practiced. If you are actually building electronic systems, you need this book.

Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems, by Henry W. Ott.

(Hardcover, 448 pages, John Wiley & Sons, 1988)

Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems details the origin of undesired electromagnetic radiation, and how to prevent it.

High-Speed Digital Design : A Handbook of Black Magic, by Howard W. Johnson, Martin Graham.

(Hardcover, 447 pages, Prentice Hall, 1993)

Molecular Computing

DNA Computing: New Computing Paradigms (Texts in Theoretical Computer Science), by Gheorghe Paun, Grzegorz Rozenberg, Arto Salomaa, W. Brauer.

(Hardcover, 300 pages, Springer Verlag, 1998)

Non-Standard Computation : Molecular Computation -- Cellular Automata -- Evolutionary Algorithms -- Quantum Computers, by Tino Gramss, M. Grob, M. Mitchell, T. Pellizzari, Tino Gramb.

(Paperback, 246 pages, Wiley, 1998)

Computing With Bio-Molecules: Theory and Experiments (Springer Series in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science), by Gheorghe Paun.

(Hardcover, Springer Verlag, 1998)

Quantum Computing

Explorations in Quantum Computing, by Colin P. Williams, Scott H. Clearwater.

(Hardcover, 256 pages, Book & CD, Springer Verlag, 1997)

The Feynman Processor : Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution (Frontiers of Science (Perseus Books)), by Gerard J. Milburn, Paul Davies.

(Hardcover, 208 pages, Perseus Books, 1998)

Schrodinger's Machines : The Quantum Technology Reshaping Everyday Life, by Gerard J. Milburn.

(Hardcover, 188 pages, W H Freeman, 1997)

The Quantum Dot : A Journey into the Future of Microelectronics, by Richard Turton.

(Paperback, Oxford Univ Pr, 1996)

Physics

Physics from Fisher Information : A Unification, by B. Roy Frieden.

(Hardcover, Cambridge Univ Pr, 1998)

Fire in the Mind : Science, Faith, and the Search for Order, by George Johnson.

(Paperback, Vintage Books, 1996)

The Vietnam War

Good books on "The Vietnam War" (and which have nothing to do with cryptography). If you ever asked yourself: "What really happened in Vietnam?", here is your chance to find out.

A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan.

(Random House, 1988)

Before he went to Vietnam in 1962, Lt. Col. John Paul Vann was the model American hero. But after experiencing the arrogance, professional corruption, and incompetence of the effort in the South, he became an outspoken critic. So he left the Army and returned to Vietnam as a civilian worker. A really remarkable story, told by a professional journalist who was there, and who brings the reader along to look over his shoulder.

About Face / the Odyssey of an American Warrior, by Colonel David H. Hackworth, Julie Sherman.

(Paperback, 1990)

Col. David Hackworth came out of Korea as one of the most-decorated warriors of our time. After several tours in Vietnam, he was on television "decrying the doomed war effort," and for a time ended up running from the US government. (The "Author's Note" is addressed "Queensland, Australia.") An amazing story of war as it was, and as it should not be.

War of Numbers : An Intelligence Memoir

by Sam Adams, David Hackworth. (Paperback, 1995)

by Sam Adams. (Hardcover, 1994)

Sam Adams was a Harvard man who spent ten years (1963-1973) as an intelligence analyst for the CIA. Adams documented the size of the enemy force in South Vietnam as far larger than the US government would admit. This is the source for the CBS television documentary "The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception," which accused American military officers in Saigon of a conspiracy to fake the numbers. General William Westmoreland sued for libel, but then settled before the case went to the jury. An eye-opening look at the military reality of Vietnam, both in-country, and back home.

Patents

Patent It Yourself, by David Pressman.

(Paperback, 496 pages, Nolo Press, 7th ed, 1999)

Patent It Yourself is surely the best lay-person's reference on the actual process of defining an invention and obtaining patent protection. The book is extremely detailed, and provides sufficient information to write the application, claims, and prosecute the case in the PTO. Anyone who wants to really understand patents probably needs this book.

How to Write a Patent Application, by Jeffrey G. Sheldon.

(Hardcover, Practising Law Inst., 1992)

Patent Law : A Practitioners Guide, by Hildreth.

(Hardcover, Practising Law Inst., 1993)

Landis on Mechanics of Patent Claim Drafting, by Robert C. Faber, John Landis?

Landis on Mechanics of Patent Claim Drafting

From Patent to Profit : Secrets & Strategies for Success, by Bob Dematteis (Illustrator), Mark Antonucci.

(Paperback, 300 pages, Inventions Patents & Tradmarks Co., 2nd ed, 1997)

Protecting Your Ideas : The Inventor's Guide to Patents, by Joy L. Bryant.

(Hardcover, 150 pages, Academic Press, 1998)

A Note from Amazon

Amazon.com is pleased to have Ritter Software Engineering in the family of Amazon.com associates. We've agreed to ship books and provide customer service for orders we receive through special links on Ciphers By Ritter. Amazon.com associates list selected books in an editorial context that helps you choose the right books. We encourage you to visit Ciphers By Ritter often to see what new books they've selected for you. Thank you for shopping with an Amazon.com associate. Sincerely, Jeff Bezos President Amazon.com P.S. We guarantee you the same high level of customer service you would receive at Amazon.com. If you have a question about an order you've placed, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Last updated: 2001 May 28