Literature suggestions to understand the cryptography used in Monero?

Question

For a computer scientist familiar with theoretical aspects of the field and a solid understanding of mathematical foundations, but no background in cryptography, what are recommended books or papers to deeply understand the cryptography used in Monero? Ideally, I'm looking for something concise yet easy to read and expanding a bit on the stuff mentioned in the MRL papers. I'd say I can follow the MRL papers 50 to 75 percent, but sometimes I'm a bit lost and need some more background.

Answer 1

Here's someting about elliptic curve cryptography that helped me understand it. Also, there's a site studying security features of various elliptic curves. For other things (such as ring signatures), I'm hoping that someone else can provide useful references.