Dr. Washington (one of the authors, I believe the other was a grad student of his) seems to be a really decent guy and cares a lot about teaching. He goes to mi

Dr. Washington (one of the authors, I believe the other was a grad student of his) seems to be a really decent guy and cares a lot about teaching. He goes to middle and high schools fairly regularly to introduce kids on these topics. That concern is reflected in the textbook and his course. It's a very approachable treatment and it seems like a lot of emphasis is placed on making it fun. The downside to a math listed CS crypto course (as it is where Washington teaches) is that there may be less emphasis on flaws that occur in actual real word implementations. A professor in the CS department also teaches crypto at Maryland and actually uses a different book (one he wrote). My understanding is that there is a bit more attention paid to implementation there, but that's coming second-hand.