A First Course in Information Theory (Information Technology: Transmission, Processing, and Storage)

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Summary: From insight to cutting edge research in information theory!
Review: This book really motivates me to learn information theory and to discover the insight given by the subject. I had no or very little background on information theory before I took Professor Yeung's course. Now I am deeply interested in the subject (Of course, you do not need to take the course in order to fall in love with the book). The book may not be a no brainer, but its clear explanations of the concepts and mind-opening analytical examples easily led me not only to understand the subject very well, but also to realize the close relationship between math and information. That's the greatest part of the book. Later chapters in the book introduce many cutting edge research results in the subject which gives me a lot of ideas for research directions. If you are serious about learning information theory, this is the book you will love. Cover and Thomas book "Elements of Information Theory" is also good, but it is a bit less insightful (i.e., it is really a "text-book" :)), and the explanations of concepts are a bit on the shallow side. I suggest to use it as a reference to Yeung's book.