Why read Introduction to Information Theory?

Book cover of Introduction to Information Theory: Symbols, Signals and Noise

Book description

"Uncommonly good...the most satisfying discussion to be found." — Scientific American.
Behind the familiar surfaces of the telephone, radio, and television lies a sophisticated and intriguing body of knowledge known as information theory. This is the theory that has permitted the rapid development of all sorts of communication, from color…

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Topics

Information theory

Genres

Science

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Why read it?

1 author picked Introduction to Information Theory as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James V. Stone

Author

Pierce was a contemporary of Claude Shannon (inventor of information theory), so he learned information theory shortly after it was published in 1949. Pierce writes in an informal style, but does not flinch from presenting the fundamental theorems of information theory. Some would say his style is too wordy, and the ratio of words/equations is certainly very high. Nevertheless, this book provides a solid introduction to information theory. It was originally published in 1961, so it is a little dated in terms of topics covered. However, because it was re-published by Dover in 1981, it is also fairly cheap. Overall,…

From James' list on The best books on information theory.