The Mathematical Theory of Communication

"Since many volumes of literature have been written both about the contents of this book and as a result of its impact on the field, suffice it to say here that anyone interested in the efficient transfer of information from one point to another should be familiar with this work."- Mathematics of Computation "Has proved invaluable to biologists and psychologists as well as to physicists and engineers."- The Times "This book cannot be ignored by anyone with direct professional concern with these applications and many applied physicists without this concern should, like the reviewer, find the book absorbing."- British Journal of Applied Physics "A beautiful example of a theory that unifies hitherto separate branches of physical science... Dr. Weaver makes important suggestions as to how this unity may be extended to semantics and pragmatics."- Philosophical Review "Before this there was no universal way of measuring the complexities of messages or the capabilities of circuits to transmit them. Shannon gave us a mathematical way... invaluable ... to scientists and engineers the world over."-Scientific American "It was Shannon who made the epic (and beautifully metaphorical) distinction between signal and noise. He distinguished heroically between data and information... Shannon's communications theory established the intellectual basis of computers." - Stephen Bayley, GQ Magazine, May 2012