Originally developed by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, information theory laid the foundations for the digital revolution, and is now an essential tool in telecommunications, genetics, linguistics, brain sciences, and deep space communication. In this richly illustrated book, accessible examples are used to introduce information theory in terms of everyday games like ‘۲۰ questions’ before more advanced topics are explored. Online MatLab and Python computer programs provide hands-on experience of information theory in action, and PowerPoint slides give support for teaching. Written in an informal style, with a comprehensive glossary and tutorial appendices, this text is an ideal primer for novices who wish to learn the essential principles and applications of information theory.

“This is a really great book – it describes a simple and beautiful idea in a way that is accessible for novices and experts alike. This “simple idea” is that information is a formal quantity that underlies nearly everything we do. In this book, Stone leads us through Shannon’s fundamental insights; starting with the basics of probability and ending with a range of applications including thermodynamics, telecommunications, computational neuroscience and evolution.

There are some lovely anecdotes: I particularly liked the account of how Samuel Morse (inventor of the Morse code) pre-empted modern notions of efficient coding by counting how many copies of each letter were held in stock in a printer’s workshop. The treatment of natural selection as “a means by which information about the environment is incorporated into DNA” is both compelling and entertaining.

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