I have taken a three stage approach to reducing the number of errors in the second edition: 1. Correct the errors from the first edition. 2. Ensure that I don't create any new errors while writing the new material for the second edition. 3. Make sure that additional errors don't creep in during the production of the second edition. In order.... I have done a lot more than incorporate all the corrections from the errata into the second edition. Minor things, too trivial to make the errata list, were also corrected. The first edition was translated into French, and the translator sent me hundreds of queries: things that were unclear, ambiguous, or erroneous. All of those queries resulted in changes to the second-edition manuscript. I was a lot more careful adding new material, reading it over several times to ensure accuracy. And a lot of other people read the chapters over, too. For the first edition, I asked about a dozen people to proofread the manuscript for me. Most people read the first chapters carefully, and then petered out somewhere in the middle. This time I asked about seventy people to each read a chapter (or two)--a chapter within their area of expertise. Each chapter was edited by at least two people, often more. Additionally, two people were paid to read the entire book for accuracy and comprehensibility. I learned a lot about the publishing process during the production of the first edition. For the first edition, I had no control of any of the production decisions. The copyeditor added errors to the manuscript. Some computer idiot lost all of my italics, boldface, superscripting, and subscripting while translating my files from my word processor to their page layout program. The proofreader didn't catch errors that the production people added. I had almost no time to review the manuscript at any of the stages. This time around I was able to choose my own copyeditor, proofreader, and indexer. In fact, there were two separate rounds of copyediting with two different copyeditors. The proofreader is not only the most meticulous proofreader I know, but someone who knows enough math to catch errors in the equations. I verified all file translations myself. And I reviewed the copyedited manuscript twice, and two separate passes of page proofs. I'm not stupid enough to state that the book is 100% error-free, but I am confident that there are far fewer errors in the second edition than there were in the first. I was embarrassed at some of the errors in the first edition, and I put a lot of effort into making sure it doesn't happen again. Bruce ************************************************************************** * Bruce Schneier * Counterpane Systems For a good prime, call 391581 * 2^216193 - 1 * schneier@counterpane.com **************************************************************************