Here are some books. Any 1XY is a technical must-read ( though not 110 in totality ) Any 2XY is a readable directly relevant technical resource Any 3XY is a history must-read Any 4XY is an important demanding specialized technical resource Any 6XY is a source you should acquaint yourself with 110 3 Authors: Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot, and Scott A. Vanstone Title: Handbook of Applied Cryptography Edition: Latest ( the first was 1997 ) Publisher. CRC, Boca Raton, FL ISBN#: 0 8493 8523 7 Pages xvii + 780 120 Author: Herman Weyl Title: Symmetry Edition 1983 paperback edition Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0 691 02374 3 Pages 176 130 Author Edward R. Tufte Title The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edition Latest ( paperback if possible ) ( the first hardback was 1983 ) Publisher Graphics Press, Cheshire, CT, 06410 ISBN Pages 197 210 Author Dorothy E. R. Denning Title Cryptography and Data Security Edition Latest ( the first was corrected 1n 1983 ) Publisher Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA ISBN 0 201 10150 5 Pages xii + 400 330 Author David Kahn Title The Codebreakers Edition Revised and updated, 1996 Publisher Scribner, NYC, NY, 10020 ISBN 0 684 83130 9 Pages xviii + 1181 220 Author Richard Hamming Title Coding and Information Theory Edition Second, 1986 Publisher Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458 ISBN 0 13 139072 4 Pages xii + 259 340 Author Simon Singh Title The Code Book Edition 1999 Publisher Fourth Estate, London ISBN 1 85702 879 1 Pages xiii + 402 360 Author Herbert O. Yardley Title The American Black Chamber Edition 1981 Publisher Ballantine Division of Random House, NYC, NY ISBN 0 345 29867 5 Pages xviii + 259 230 Author Paul Garrett Title Making Breaking Codes Edition 2001 Publisher Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458 ISBN 0 13 03069 0 Pages xix + 524 231 Author Richard C. Mollin Title An Introduction to Cryptography Edition 2000 Publisher Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 1 58483 127 5 Pages xii + 373 232 Author Douglas R. Stinson Title Cryptography: Theory and Practice Edition Second, 2002 Publisher Chapmna & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 1 59483 206 9 Pages + 339 240 Authors Wade Trappe and Lawrence C. Washington Title Introduction to Cryptograhy with Coding Theory Edition 2002 Publisher Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 ISBN 0 13 061814 4 Pages xiii + 490 250 Author Song Y. Yan Title Number Theory for Computing Edition 2000 Publisher Springer-Verlag, Berlin ISBN 3 540 65472 0 Pages xi + 381 260 Author S. C. Coutinho Title The Mathematics of Ciphers: Number Theory and RSA Cryptography Edition 1999 Publisher A K Peters, Natick, MA, 01760 ISBN 1 56881 082 2 Pages xv + 196 261 Author Richard A. Mollin Title RSA and Public Key Cryptography Edition 2003 Publisher Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 1 58488 338 3 Pages xii + 291 262 Author Samuel S. Wagstaff Title Cryptanalysis of Number Theoretic Ciphers Edition 2003 Publisher Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 1 58483 153 4 Pages xv + 318 263 Author Lawrence C. Washington Title Elliptc Curves: Number Theory and Cryptography Edition 2003 Publisher Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 1 58483 365 0 Pages xi + 428 264 Author Neal Koblitz Title A Course in Number Theory and Cryptography Edition 1987 Publisher Springer-Verlag, New York, NY ISBN 0 387 96576 9 0 540 96576 9 Pages + 208 270 Authors Ramanujachary Kumanduri and Cristina Romero Title Number Theory with Computer Applications Edition 1998 Publisher Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458 ISBN 0 13 801812 X Pages xiii + 543 480 Authors A. D. Aleksandrov, A. N. Kolmogorov and M. A. Lavrent'ev Title Mathematics: Its Contents, Methods and Meaning, Vol. I, Vol. II and Vol. III Edition Second, Second Printing ( paperback ), 1965 Publisher MIT Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN Pages xi + 376 + xi + 394 + xi + 392 410 Author Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas Title Elements of Information Theory Edition Latest ( the first was 1991 ) Publisher Wiley-Interscience, NYC, NY ISBN 0 471 06259 6 Pages xxii + 542 420 Authors F. J. MacWilliams and N. J. A. Sloane Title The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes Edition Second Printing, 1978 Publisher North-Holland, Amsterdam ISBN 0 444 85009 0 and 0 444 95010 4 Pages xviii + 762 430 Authors W. Wesley Peterson and E. J. Weldon, Jr. Title Error-Correcting Codes Edition Second Edition, Fourth Printing, 1980 Publisher MIT Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN 0 262 16 039 0 ( hardcover ) Pages xi + 560 440 Author Solomon W. Golomb Title Shift Register Sequences Edition Revised Edition, 1982 Publisher Aegean Park Press, Laguna Hills, CA, 92654 ISBN 0 89412 048 4 Pages xvi + 247 650 Authors Milton Abramowitz and Irene A. Stegun ( Editors ) Title Handbook of Mathematical Functions Edition ( paperback ) 1965 Publisher Dover, NYC, NY ISBN Pages xiv + 1046 460 Author Donald E. Knuth Title The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms Edition Third Publisher Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA ISBN 0 201 89684 2 Pages xiv + 762 461 Authors Alfred V. Aho, John E. hopcroft, and Jeffrey D. Ullman Title The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms Edition 1974 or later Publisher Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA ISBN 0 201 00029 6 Pages x + 470 462 Authors Albert Nijenhuis and Herbert S. Wilf Title Combinatorial Algorithms for Computers and Calculators Edition Second, 1978, or later Publisher Academic Press ISBN 0 12 519260 6 Pages xv + 303 463 Editor Mikhail J. Atallah Title Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook Edition 1999 or later Publisher CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 0 8493 2649 4 Pages nonsequential 464 Editor Kenneth H. Rosen Title Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics Edition 2000 or later Publisher CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 33431 ISBN 0 8493 0149 1 Pages + 1232 665 Editors Shokichi Iyanaga and Yukiyosi Kawada Title Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics, Volumes I and II Edition Second, 1968 or later Publisher MIT Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN Pages xv + 1,750 466 Editors H. Behnke, F. Bachmann, K. Fladt and W. Suss Title Foundations of Mathematics, Volumes I, II and III Edition 1974 or later Publisher MIT Press, Cambridge, MA ISBN 0 262 02048 3 Pages x + 549 and vi + 685 and xiii + 541 610 Author Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner ( Editors ) Title Venona: Soviet Espionage and the American Response 1039-1957 Edition Declassified and Released, 1995-1996, with an August 1996 Foreword by William P. Crowell Publisher Aegean Park Press, Laguna Hills, CA 92654 ISBN 0 89412 265 7 Pages xliv + 503 620 Author David Shulman Title An Annotated Bibliography of Cryptography Edition 1976 Publisher Garland, NYC, NY ISBN 0 8240 9974 5 Pages xvii + 154 + 155 + 14 + 47 + 2 + 1 630 Author Ernest Vincent Wright Title Gadsby, A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter E Edition 1939 Publisher Wetzel, Los Angeles, CA ISBN Pages 267 640 Author James Joyce Title Finnegan's Wake Edition 193? Publisher ISBN Pages