Normally tptacek would be right here to shill for himself, but I don't see him around, so I'll say it for him:

If you're interested in learning about the ideas in this piece via practical attacks you perform yourself, you should definitely check out his company Matasano's Crypto Challenge:

http://www.matasano.com/articles/crypto-challenges/

I've gone through the whole thing, and I can report that it's incredibly fun and incredibly enlightening. And you won't have to read a book to figure out that what Thomas is talking about here is legit.