The Mathematical Theory of Communication by Claude Shannon

Yet in the first and third chapters of this influential introductory part of the book, Weaver expands the claims of Shannon’s theory regarding the quantification and transmission of information to those of a general theory of communication, a theory concerned not only with the transmission of sequences of signals devoid almost entirely of content, but also with the reproduction of contents and intentions and even with their possible effect on different speakers. The second part of the book is a re-print of the article from 1948, while its first part targets readers without mathematical training by offering a friendly and helpful summary of Shannon’s theory as Weaver understood it.

The following year appeared a small book co-authored by Shannon and Weaver, pretentiously titled The Mathematical Theory of Communication (Urbana/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1949). He published his conclusions first in a classified Bell memo titled “A Mathematical Theory of Cryptography” (1945), and later in the Bell periodical publication under the modest title (and for that reason more characteristic of Shannon) “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” ( Bell System Technical Journal 27(3), 1948, 379–423). A bit of history: working as an engineer at Bell Labs, Shannon completed the articulation of his theory during the years of World War II.

The Mathematical Theory of Communication by Claude Shannon