cryptoalex6 hours ago
I would suggest Real-World Cryptography by DAVID WONG. It has good introduction covering basic primitives like various hash functions, MAC, KDF, then sym/asym, and so on, all the way to PQC and protocols design. A nice intro book, maybe your 10 y.o. will find it interesting.
P.S. In fact, I was going to send that book to my friend's son who is about same age, and who got some sudden interest in cryptography recently. So it is safe to say that I am now aware of at least two 10 year olds who have interest in Cryptography. I feel a bit surprised, but in a good way :)
- mike_richards6 hours ago
  Thanks we'll check it out.
  He started with inventing his own alphabet and language as he was learning to read and write, which eventually evolved into reinventing the Secret Decoder Ring with increasing complexity, so we want to encourage him in his adventure.
mike_richards5 hours ago
Besides practical books does anyone have opinions about these?
The Code Book by Simon Singh
The Codebreakers by David Kahn
The Mathematics of Secrets by Joshua Holden
nukular6 hours ago
Work with your llms and figure out a “zero knowledge proof” game that can be played on paper.
Something like that would be practical.
- mike_richards6 hours ago
  OK, Thanks for the suggestion for a practical exercise.
  - nukular5 hours ago
    Oops and that’s “zero knowledge proof”!