Elements of Information Theory

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Summary: Very thorough and readable intro text
Review: Cover and Thomas have written an excellent book on information theory. This book is suitable for an introductory type course but the entire book probably cannot be covered at once. All of the explanations and proofs are very understandable, although the section on types can be a tad confusing at times! I would not recommend this book to someone with a casual interest in information theory, rather to someone who wants a more rigorous treatment of the underlying mathematics.

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Summary: Single most valuable info theory book
Review: I agree with all who gave five stars at the time of this writing. I like to mention that for those who seriously study this book (especially focusing on discrete processes), Ergodic theory of discrete sample paths by Shields is also of great value.

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Summary: Excellent modern overview of information theory.
Review: I feel this is a very well written and organized overview of the most important aspects of information theory for both science and communications technology. The chapter on the theory of types is worth the price of admission alone!

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Summary: the best IT book in the market
Review: If you want a single book on information theory, you must have this one. Tom Cover, as one of the major contributors to the development of information theory over the years, wrote a clear and understandable book on a somewhat involved topic. The notation is neat and clean, something difficult to find in IT books. Also, the practice exercices at the end of each chapter are all of them worth doing. In each one you discover something in the theory you did not paid due attention. The spirit of IT important quantities such as the entropy and mutual information is well explained through examples and Venn diagrams. Also, despite the fact that this is a technical book, reading it can be quite enjoyable.

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Summary: Great Book
Review: The book on Information Theory by Thomas and Cover is quite comprehensive in its treatment of the subject. The book also offers good examples of applications of Information Theory. Its chapter on Large Deviations , for example, offers a good idea of how to apply information theory to that field. One could use it for, say, switching theory. The treatment is delightfully mathematical, and yet even a beginner can understand it.

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Summary: Cover and Thomas ain't no Robert Gallager
Review: This book is a predictable dissapointment. It is just yet another of the best examples of how modern textbooks have diverged from traditional textbooks of the 1950 - 1970's. Although this book doesn't focus too heavily on the "practical" aspects as far as implementation of information theory, it is clear that todays books are not nearly as mathematically rigorous as the books of yesteryear. ...

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Summary: THE GATEWAY to the exciting field!
Review: This book is a research-level books that guides you to the world of information theory. Many arguements in the book are closely related to those in the latest information theory papers. For instance, the line of thought of the proof of channel capacity theorem (achievability->error analysis->converse) are still used in many network information theory papers. Hence, not only can readers refer to other papers when learning the subject(esp network information theory), but also get a solid foundation if he wants to continue with information theory. Another point is the intuition employed throughout the book. Dr.Cover visualizes many abstract notions (e.g. typical set)in information theory with clear diagrams. The subject suddenly becomes more approachable, and more importantly, these techniques are very important in subsequent study of the subject. Finally, the broad coverage of the book (of coz, it has depth) provides reader with a sip of the creativity and eclectic nature of information theory. In sum, after reading the book, readers will have some idea of this exciting field! But of coz, this is only the beginning!

Rating:
Summary: Cover and Thomas ain't no Robert Gallager
Review: This book is very thorough in its content, and the information is laid out very nicely, and easy to find. However, from a non-information theorist perspective it is not a good introduction. It covers the theory very well, but is light on the practical application (which is what drew me to the subject). This book requires a solid foundation in probability.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good primer for the subject
Review: This book is very thorough in its content, and the information is laid out very nicely, and easy to find. However, from a non-information theorist perspective it is not a good introduction. It covers the theory very well, but is light on the practical application (which is what drew me to the subject). This book requires a solid foundation in probability.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommend
Review: This book presents the Shannon Theory in the most elegant way possible!