Which book for a newbie to cryptography?

[Foo-O-Matic]

Hi, first im new to this list and to cryptography. :)
I've read the first lesson from this 24 crypto lessons:
http://www.und.nodak.edu/org/crypto/crypto/lanaki.crypt.class/lessons/
and found it really interesting. I want to start learning cryptography
from a book, and I have access to these 3 books from the library in
the college near me:

- Handbook of applied cryptography / Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van
Oorschot, Scott A. Vanstone / 1996
- Cryptography : theory and practice 2nd ed. / Douglas R. Stinson / 2002

What I want to know is which one is recommended for someone which is
new to cryptography?

Thanks in advance,
Foo-o-Matic

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