Fazlollah M. Reza

Originally published in 1961, this work on the surface appears to be a graduate-level text for computer engineering students. As such, it may seem to have only historical interest. It would be tempting to skip this over for more up to date works. However, besides being a light in the constellation of seminal works on information theory, this is still very illustrative and enlightening, especially for someone mathematically sophisticated enough merely for elementary probability and set theory show more with an interest in the development of information theory. The first four chapters take the reader from elementary probability to information theory basics. Additionally, classroom or independent study can be augmented with a final chapter on group codes. This excellent introduction to the coding theory topic in chapter thirteen does not require the higher mathematics of earlier chapters.

Merged review:

Originally published in 1961, this work on the surface appears to be a graduate-level text for computer engineering students. As such, it may seem to have only historical interest. It would be tempting to skip this over for more up to date works. However, besides being a light in the constellation of seminal works on information theory, this is still very illustrative and enlightening, especially for someone mathematically sophisticated enough merely for elementary probability and set theory with an interest in the development of information theory. The first four chapters take the reader from elementary probability to information theory basics. Additionally, classroom or independent study can be augmented with a final chapter on group codes. This excellent introduction to the coding theory topic in chapter thirteen does not require the higher mathematics of earlier chapters. show less