TLDR; Get "Cryptography Engineering"[0] instead.

0: http://www.amazon.com/Cryptography-Engineering-Principles-Pr...

"Practical Cryptography", by Bruce Schneier and Niels Ferguson, is meant to atone for the unfortunate real-world consequences of Applied Cryptography. It is comprehensive and good for people with basic discrete mathematics understanding.

Short story: Applied Cryptography is an old book and doesn't focus on end-user practicality. (I'd still recommend it for anyone looking to get deeply into cryptography, but it's not a good starting point.)

For the record, Cryptography Engineering is his latest book on the topic, and it is a good one. But like all technical books, it's also a little out of date.