This is a very well written book. It cleared up many problems I had in understanding the basics of information theory. The only real fault of the book is that it was written in 1982 or so thus some new developments in information theory -- like Susskind's discovery of the maximum information that can be contained in a given volume -- are missing.

Pierces`s book met my need very well. Coming from a physics and philosophy background , I was probing the different meanings of entropy, the involvement of Boltzman`s constant etc . I was enlightened and lead by his fluent expertise into further fields of interest., - semantics, psychology and so on. A valuable book.

You cannot learn the math of information theory from this book but this book is perfect for you to get the core concepts.

An Excellent place to start!

This book is a delight to read. It is thoughtfully written so the text flows effortlessly. Everything is described in an intuitive yet concise manner. In fact, despite the technical terms in its title and body, this book is accessible to any casual reader of "popular science" material.

The basic concepts of the "amount" of information, coding, information rate, noise, power, signal space, and channel capacity are described so clearly that the book can be an indictment of some of the more technical texts! The author delivers on his promise of a "non-mathematical" book, and does so the "right" way - namely, like a good teacher, by making you understand the essential ideas.

In short, reading the book is like sitting in front of a knowledgeable scientist who talks in a measured and engaging (and almost reflective and informal) manner. He conveys the significance of the main subject by touching on a variety of related ideas and even raising philosophical questions here and there. The result is a good context for understanding information theory itself.

It relates the main subject to fundamental concepts in physics such as thermal noise, deep space radiation, and entropy. A short discussion of linguistics and grammar eventually leads to an introductory discussion of "communication and control" - filtering and prediction, servo's and negative feedback, automata and computing - and what today may be considered parts of the field of artificial intelligence!

Final note: perhaps except for a few specific paragraphs (e.g. accounts of developments in computer technology), virtually everything in the book is at the level of fundamental science and, therefore, remains relevant and useful.

This is by far the best introductory book on info theory. The author has a talent for making difficult concepts easy and interesting. A definite page turner! Note, this book is for the lay person wanting to know what information theory is about. If you're taking a course in information theory, look somewhere else!