Rating: 
Summary: too restricted
Review: This is a well written book. But i think the title is misleading;
in vain will anyone will find any material on information
processing (quite strange for a book on information!). as such
automata, computability and complaxity are totally absent.
Kolmogorov complexity is there but the main questions in
complexity theory are not.In addition even in coding theory you can not see covering
of error-correction, cryptography. The authors treat a
small part of coding theory (that is communication) and they
name it ''Information theory''!. Well the latter is much much more. You want find these in this book. In addition
the book does not even deserve the title ''theory
of communication'' but ''classical communication'';
you wont find anything in modern quantum coding theories. Overall, well written but not able to say what information
really is.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This is an excellent book on information theory. It covers the basics from entropy to the more complex aspects of rate-distortion theory in an elegant manner. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the concept of entropy and also to those who want a deeper understanding of the theory behind source and channel coding. A must buy for those involved in compression and wanting to get the theoritical background behind coding.
Rating: 
Summary: A very good book, but could be improved.
Review: Thomas Cover is a legend in the fields of information theory, telecommunications, and complexity theory, and this book is a reflection of his expertise in these fields. Thus, I recommend anyone to read this book who is even remotely interested in these fields, for Cover will make you *very* interested after reading the book. I found the Chapter on Kolmogorov complexity to be very good, and it was the first time that I could claim I actually had a good intuitive grasp of the subject. I found the Chapters on AEP, Data Compression, and Entropy Rates also very informative. On the downside, I found the chapters on Rate Distortion and Channel Capacity (two very central topics in information theory) somewhat confusing, and have seen better presentations (see Steve Roman's "Coding and Information Theory").
Rating:
Summary: A very good book, but could be improved.
Review: Thomas Cover is a legend in the fields of information theory, telecommunications, and complexity theory, and this book is a reflection of his expertise in these fields. Thus, I recommend anyone to read this book who is even remotely interested in these fields, for Cover will make you *very* interested after reading the book. I found the Chapter on Kolmogorov complexity to be very good, and it was the first time that I could claim I actually had a good intuitive grasp of the subject. I found the Chapters on AEP, Data Compression, and Entropy Rates also very informative. On the downside, I found the chapters on Rate Distortion and Channel Capacity (two very central topics in information theory) somewhat confusing, and have seen better presentations (see Steve Roman's "Coding and Information Theory").
Rating:
Summary: Great intermediate to advanced entry into information theory
Review: Thomas Cover is a well-known researcher for both his excellent and sometimes surprising work in information theory, and his reputation as a teacher. The result here is a very well-written and gentle "overview" of information theory that is designed as a comprehensive introduction to the subject. One thing to note about this book is that it is by design both an introduction and a survey of information theory, as the title suggests. It starts off with the basic concepts of information theory such as entropy and mutual information, and continues on with brief and gentle reviews of different more intermediate topics such as entropy rates in random processes, introduction to coding, and finally with the channel coding theorem, rate-distortion theorem, network information theory, and other more advanced topics. While I find that his treatment of the intermediate and advanced topics to be excellent, there are a few weak aspects on this book's treatment of the introductory topics here and there. However, with just a little persistence the reader will be well rewarded by Cover's excellent writing. At each topic, the reader is presented with reason, motivation, intuition and example before delving into the rigorous treatment of the subject. Therefore even the most casual reader will be rewarded with good insights into the different topics in information theory. That all said, I highly recommend this book to anybody armed with elementary probability who is interested in the general area of communication, signal processing and information theory. Readers who are alergic to math are recommended to start with J.R. Pierce's "Introduction to Information Theory" and readers looking for a casual introduction to the fundamental concepts in information theory are recommended to find a copy of A. Renyi's hard to find "A Diary on Information Theory".
Rating:
Summary: Great intermediate to advanced entry into information theory
Review: Thomas Cover is a well-known researcher for both his excellent and sometimes surprising work in information theory, and his reputation as a teacher. The result here is a very well-written and gentle "overview" of information theory that is designed as a comprehensive introduction to the subject. One thing to note about this book is that it is by design both an introduction and a survey of information theory, as the title suggests. It starts off with the basic concepts of information theory such as entropy and mutual information, and continues on with brief and gentle reviews of different more intermediate topics such as entropy rates in random processes, introduction to coding, and finally with the channel coding theorem, rate-distortion theorem, network information theory, and other more advanced topics. While I find that his treatment of the intermediate and advanced topics to be excellent, there are a few weak aspects on this book's treatment of the introductory topics here and there. However, with just a little persistence the reader will be well rewarded by Cover's excellent writing. At each topic, the reader is presented with reason, motivation, intuition and example before delving into the rigorous treatment of the subject. Therefore even the most casual reader will be rewarded with good insights into the different topics in information theory. That all said, I highly recommend this book to anybody armed with elementary probability who is interested in the general area of communication, signal processing and information theory. Readers who are alergic to math are recommended to start with J.R. Pierce's "Introduction to Information Theory" and readers looking for a casual introduction to the fundamental concepts in information theory are recommended to find a copy of A. Renyi's hard to find "A Diary on Information Theory".
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