Behind The Scenes Of Serious Cryptography
HelpNet Security, Tuesday, August 27th, 2024
In this Help Net Security interview, Jean-Philippe Aumasson, discusses the writing and research process for Serious Cryptography, his latest book. With a career steeped in research and practical cryptography, Aumasson offers a rare glimpse into the efforts required to distill complex concepts into accessible knowledge for a broad audience.
Can you share the depth of the research that went into this project? How much time did you dedicate to research before starting the actual writing?
The first edition, published in 2017, took about two and a half years to complete. I spent an average of five hours on each page, excluding the work from my editor, No Starch Press.
Researching a chapter was essential before writing the first line of text. It allowed me to distill the topics to their essence to explain them as clearly as possible to readers. I also had to find the most accurate and up-to-date sources to refresh my knowledge and cite the most relevant articles and books. That was a lot of reading!