Information Theory Books - Page 6

The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory (Information Science and Statistics)

Vladimir Vapnik

Amazon Price: $75.17 List Price: $94.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Springer Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $60.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Computer Mathematics
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Cybernetics
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Machine Learning

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

worth reading 3 out of 5 stars.
17 of 20 people found this review helpful.

A good, albeit highly idiosyncratic, guide to Statistical Learning. The highly personal account of the theory is both the strong point and the drawback of the treatise. On one side, Vapnick never loses sight of the big picture, and gives illuminating insights and formulations of the "basic problems" (as he calls them), that are not found in any other book. The lack of proofs and the slightly erratic organization of the topic make for a brisk, enjoyable reading. On the minus side, the choice of the topics is very biased. In this respect, the book is a self-congratulatory tribute by the author to himself: it appears that the foundations of statistical learning were single-handedly laid by him and his collaborators. This is not really the case. Consistency of the Empircal Risk Measure is rather trivial from the viewpoint of a personal trained in asymptotic statistics, and interval estimators for finite data sets are the subject of much advanced statistical literature. Finally, SVMs and neural nets are just a part of the story, and probably not the most interesting.
In a nutshell, what Vapnick shows, he shows very well, and is able to provide the "why" of things as no one else. What he doesn't show... you'll have to find somewhere else (the recent Book of Friedman Hastie & Tibs is an excellent starting point).
A last remark. The book is rich in grammatical errors and typos. They could have been corrected in the second edition, but do not detract from the book's readability.

Editorial Review:

Discusses the fundamental ideas that lie behind the statistical theory of learning and generalization. Considers learning as a general problem of function estimation based on empirical data. DLC: Computational learning theory.

Viral Spiral: How the Commoners Built a Digital Republic of Their Own

David Bollier

Amazon Price: $19.40 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New Press Amazon Marketplace: 4 new & used starting at $18.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A stunning narrative history of the emergence of electronic "free culture," from open-source software and Creative Commons licenses to remixes and Web 2.0—in the tradition of Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture.

A world organized around centralized control, strict intellectual property rights, and hierarchies of credentialed experts is under siege. A radically different order of society based on open access, decentralized creativity, collaborative intelligence, and cheap and easy sharing is ascendant. —from Viral Spiral

From free and open-source software, Creative Commons licenses, Wikipedia, remix music and video mashups, peer production, open science, open education, and open business, the world of digital media has spawned a new "sharing economy" that increasingly competes with entrenched media giants.

Reporting from the heart of this "free culture" movement, journalist and activist David Bollier provides the first comprehensive history of the attempt by a global brigade of techies, lawyers, artists, musicians, scientists, businesspeople, innovators, and geeks of all stripes to create a digital republic committed to freedom and innovation. Viral Spiral—the term Bollier coins to describe the almost-magical process by which Internet users can come together to build online commons and tools—brilliantly interweaves the disparate strands of this eclectic movement. The story describes major technological developments and pivotal legal struggles, as well as fascinating profiles of hacker Richard Stallman, copyright scholar Lawrence Lessig, and other colorful figures.

A milestone in reporting on the Internet by one of our leading media critics, Viral Spiral is for anyone seeking to take the full measure of the new digital era.

Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information

Robert Wright

List Price: $8.95 By: Harpercollins Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $1.04

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Science -> History & Philosophy -> General
Subjects -> Science -> History & Philosophy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A merge of sciences to find the meaning of life 4 out of 5 stars.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful.

Wright focuses on the theories of digital physicist Edward Fredkin (the universe is a computer), sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson (the universe is united by genes and culture), and Kenneth Boulding (the universe is united through communication as a natural process of evolution). Each man has *faith* in his hypothesis without following it up with rigorous experiments. Therefore, this book reads as one man's evaluation of other men's ego trips. I give it four stars, tho, because it is an excellent review and synthesis of these theories, including their origins. The book touches upon the "coincidence" that each theory maps into the basic tenets of the world's religions. Wright includes a fantastic bibliography with reviews of each listing; definitely worthwhile if you are interested in any of these theories. (For a more captivating read of Wright, check out _The Moral Animal_ and _Nonzero_. In those books, he continues what he starts in _Three Scientists_.)

Take Your Brain Out of The Box 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

In agreement with the other reviewer, this is a good synthesis of the theories of the scientists reviewed and very readable with discussions in layman terms. However, if one has not been introduced to these theories, then spend the time to take the brain out of the box and on a wonderful stroll. If so, I am confident that after consumption of these theories you will have an active interest and enthusiasm to pursue further studies or further reading in at least one (1) of the three (3).

Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography (Springer Professional Computing)

Darrel Hankerson, Alfred J. Menezes, Scott Vanstone

Amazon Price: $85.52 List Price: $99.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Springer Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $62.23

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Software Engineering -> Information Systems
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

fabulous introduction to implementing ECC 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book because I was designing a cryptographic protocol, and wanted to know if I could use ECC in my design. It begins with an explanation of "traditional" public key cryptography (i.e., cryptography over prime fields), introduces binary fields and elliptic curves, shows how to perform computations over elliptic curves, puts this together into ECC protocols, and then includes very useful implementaiton information. This book does a good job explaining not only how to use ECC algorithms, but why they work.

As advertised, this book doesn't go into too much mathematical depth, omitting most proofs. This doesn't mean that there is no math in this book; if you don't have a decent background in algebra (no, not the stuff you learned in seventh grade), you're likely to get confused. However, if you have a little background in theoretical math and cryptography, you'll find this a very readable and easy to understand book.

The one thing that's left out of this book are intellectual property issues. Certicom owns a lot of patents on ECC, and it's not clear which ideas in this book are covered by Certicom patents. This is a minor complaint though; overall, the book is excellent. It's rare to find a book that is so exactly on target. Highly recommeneded.

Editorial Review:

A broad-ranging expository guidebook on EEC cryptosystems and technology, written by leading EEC researchers and authorities. All aspects of the topic are clearly presented (accessible technical level, i.e., B.S. degree), with plenty of supporting real-world examples. An essential reference for practitioners or professionals in computer science, computer engineering, network design, and network/data security, as well as a useful self-study resource for researchers.

Coding Theory: A First Course

San Ling, Chaoping Xing

Amazon Price: $108.00 List Price: $108.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cambridge University Press Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $73.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Soft and pleasing intro to the (mathematical) coding theory 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

A very soft introduction to coding theory. All the necessary information in finite field theory etc. are reminded of and short proves are also included. It is 25 years ago that I studied mathematics and it still was easy to follow. If you start from scratch you obviously have to invest some time to get a grasp of the mathematics before you can understand the application to coding.

After having read this book I finally know what this error messages of "Failed 312 cyclic redundancy checks" actually mean and why cyclic codes are used in physical networks (good burst correction properties).

If you want to dig deeper in the subject and you want to learn about nonlinear codes and more: than the authors tend to reference Neil J. A. Sloane, Florence Jessie MacWilliams "The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes".

Editorial Review:

Concerned with successfully transmitting data through a noisy channel, coding theory can be applied to electronic engineering and communications. Based on the authors' extensive teaching experience, this text provides a completely modern and accessible course on the subject. It includes sections on linear programming and decoding methods essential for contemporary mathematics. Numerous examples and exercises make the volume ideal for students and instructors.

Philosophy of Physics (Handbook of the Philosophy of Science) 2 volume set

Amazon Price: $188.00 List Price: $235.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: North Holland Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $188.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Professional Science -> Physics -> Mathematical Physics
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Professional Science -> Physics -> General

Editorial Review:

The ambition of this volume is twofold: to provide a comprehensive overview of the field and to serve as an indispensable reference work for anyone who wants to work in it. For example, any philosopher who hopes to make a contribution to the topic of the classical-quantum correspondence will have to begin by consulting Klaas Landsman's chapter.

The organization of this volume, as well as the choice of topics, is based on the conviction that the important problems in the philosophy of physics arise from studying the foundations of the fundamental theories of physics. It follows that there is no sharp line to be drawn between philosophy of physics and physics itself. Some of the best work in the philosophy of physics is being done by physicists, as witnessed by the fact that several of the contributors to the volume are theoretical physicists: viz., Ellis, Emch, Harvey, Landsman, Rovelli, 't Hooft, the last of whom is a Nobel laureate.

Key features

- Definitive discussions of the philosophical implications of modern physics

- Masterly expositions of the fundamental theories of modern physics

- Covers all three main pillars of modern physics: relativity theory, quantum theory, and thermal physics

- Covers the new sciences grown from these theories: for example, cosmology from relativity theory; and quantum information and quantum computing, from quantum theory

- Contains special Chapters that address crucial topics that arise in several different theories, such as symmetry and determinism

- Written by very distinguished theoretical physicists, including a Nobel Laureate, as well as by philosophers

- Definitive discussions of the philosophical implications of modern physics
- Masterly expositions of the fundamental theories of modern physics
- Covers all three main pillars of modern physics: relativity theory, quantum theory, and thermal physics
- Covers the new sciences that have grown from these theories: for example, cosmology from relativity theory; and quantum information and quantum computing, from quantum theory
- Contains special Chapters that address crucial topics that arise in several different theories, such as symmetry and determinism
- Written by very distinguished theoretical physicists, including a Nobel Laureate, as well as by philosophers

Applied Coding and Information Theory for Engineers (Prentice-Hall Information and System Sciences Series)

Richard B. Wells

Amazon Price: $120.00 List Price: $120.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $57.86

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Computer Mathematics
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> Theory of Computing
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Artificial Intelligence -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

a textbook. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I ordered this book cuz our teacher use this book as textbook...The thing is he never teach based on this book, we can never find one single example in this book that he gave us, and the order of chapters that he gave us is different from this book....it's way too difficult to review by using this book.I was like,what's the point to choose this book as a textbook,Mr.xxxx?
Anyway, this book is good, contains entropy,Shannon principle, and huffman coding,etc...not bad choice to learn these stuff yourself from this book.

book was softcover (interantional version?) instead of hardcover 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I had to call Amazon 4 times and with 2 replacements (one came in softcover still one never arrived), for them to fix the problem (i.e., give me an refund). The book itself is excellent though.

Information Theory, Evolution, and The Origin of Life

Hubert P. Yockey

Amazon Price: $61.60 List Price: $77.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cambridge University Press Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $36.98

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Professional Science -> Biological Sciences -> Biology -> General
Subjects -> Professional & Technical -> Professional Science -> Biological Sciences -> Biology -> Molecular Biology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Dr. Yockey Scores Again! 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 19 people found this review helpful.

This book, which is the long awaited follow-up to Information Theory and Molecular Biology, is another tour de force in a long history of such insights from Dr. Yockey. As the former head of the U.S. Government's Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Yockey has a demonstrated history of squashing austensibly scientific ideas that superficially make sense, but when given the acid test are found entirely wanting. This book is replete with such deconstructions and they are much needed as they pertain to the current origin of life debate. Let me cite a few examples:

Perhaps formost among them is the idea that life arose from some Urschleim (primeval slime). Not only does Yockey show that this theory cannot be true, he explains exactly why, using mathematical certainty. First, he shows, applying Information theory to Crick's Central Dogma, that because the flow of information can only pass from larger encoding alphabets to smaller ones, but not the other way around, it is impossible for the information which fills the genetic code to have proceded from proteins (the smaller alphabet) to DNA/RNA (the larger alphabet). Ergo, it is equally impossible for any proteins-first theory of life origin to be correct - simply on that basis. Because what matters is not so much the DNA itself, in the scheme of life's continued existence, but the information it contains!

Next, he offers what may be the best summation of evidence in print to show that there simply is no scientific basis whatsoever to conclude that anything like Darwin's "warm little pond" ever existed. But he goes much further, taking evidence from fossil records as to the nature of the earth's atmosphere during the time the Urschleim was presumed to exist, Yockey shows that it is simply not possible chemically for earth to have had the atmosphere that it did and for those ponds to exist. The upshot being, according to cellular biologist and Nobel Laureate Christian Du Duve, without those ponds, the chance of any natural origin of life is zero.

Another strength of the book is the facility with which he ties the procedural activities of the genome to information theory, specifically Shannon's Law. The importance here is his insight into the nature of codes. He begins by demonstrating that the genetic code, in its present optimal form, could not have had a natural origin simply because not enough time has existed since the beginning of the universe to allow for it's actuality strictly in terms of processing.

He furthers this with the following quote from one of his earlier works: "The calculations presented in this paper show that the origin of a rather accurate genetic code, not necessarily the modern one, is a pons asinorum that must be crossed to pass over the abyss that separates crystallography, high polymer chemistry and physics from biology.(Yockey, 1981, 1992)" Then quoting from the book directly thereafter, "The paradox is seldom mentioned that enzymes are required to define or generate the reaction network, and the network is required to synthesize the enzymes and their component amino acids. There is no trace in physics or chemistry of the control of chemical reactions by a sequence of any sort or of a code between sequences. Thus, when we make the distinction between the origin of the genetic code and its evolution, we find the origin of the genetic code is unknowable."

However, Yockey is not arguing for some kind of theistic event. In fact, he takes great pains later in the book to demonstrate that he does not support any theistic conclusion. From his perspective, while it is provably true, based on mathematical certainty, that the genetic code did not have a natural origin, because the universe has demonstrated no ability whatsoever to formulate any kind of code, let alone something as sophisticated as the genome, it cannot be assumed ipso facto that a supernatural event is the only other choice. Because there is no scientific evidence to support that possibility, Yockey is completely unwilling to postulate such, even in off-the-record conversations.

To further distance himself from any hint that he supports Intelligent Design (ID) with is work, he takes-on one of the icons of ID, Dr. Michael Behe, and his theory of Irreducible complexity (IR). The way in which he attempts to show that Behe's theory does not work is to formulate IR as a kind of Gordian Knot that, if Behe is correct, is not computable. Because he can show that Behe's model is computable, he believes he has shown Behe's theory to be incorrect in principle.

However, his complete misunderstanding of Behe's theory leads him to disprove something Behe did not theorize. Behe's IR does not refer to a mathematically unsolvable puzzle, but to a kind of engineering dilemma for which there is no functional step-wise construction. Mechanisms for which there is no gradual, step by step approach to their completion, where every single step is itself a working model, are termed Irreducibly Complex. In other words, IR refers to any mechanism wherein all the parts necessary for its function are similtaneously extant because no partial iteration of the mechanism will function in any way.

I would use the example of a car engine. There is a net of engine parts required for the engine to run. Below that net assembly of parts, the engine will neither start nor run, even in principle. So while an engine is constructed sequentially, none of those sequences, short of a complete engine, will function, as is required by Darwinian gradualism.

Behe uses a simpler example, the mouse trap. His theory states that if you remove any one of the simple parts, it is impossible for the trap to function. The net result of Behe's theory is that IR makes it impossible for any mechanism so possessed to evolve in a gradual way because all the parts have to be there at the start for the mechanism to work. On the other hand, Darwinian Gradualism requires that every step be not only an advancement in function, but a competitive advantage that allows the creature superior ability in the war for continued existence.

Though Yockey confuses Behe's theory with the mathematical version of irreducibly complexity, to his credit, as the aforementioned quote from his book, regarding the impossibility of a network creating enzymes when enzymes themselves must first exist to make the network creating enzymes work [a classic Catch 22], he recognizes the irreducibly complex problem to which Behe refers. As such, while he discusses the it in completely different terms, his own example recognizes, as Behe theorizes, that it is impossible for such mechanisms to come into existence by some natural means.

That little flap is however, of no consequence in the panarama of Yockey's book. Everything he has written on the subject of this book has become a must read for anyone who wants to be completely up to speed on the origin of life question. His original insights are powerful precisely because he goes beyond supposition and hypotheses cum theories, to show with the certainty of mathematical law, why some things cannot be. As a consequence, whenever amathematical biologists finally decide to stop arguing about matters that have already been definitively determined, and consult the wisdom and insights of one of a physicist who is one of the 20th century's great scientific minds, they will devour this book.
John Tomlinson, MA, CHt

Editorial Review:

Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life presents a timely introduction to the use of information theory and coding theory in molecular biology. The genetical information system, because it is linear and digital, resembles the algorithmic language of computers. George Gamow pointed out that the application of Shannon's information theory breaks genetics and molecular biology out of the descriptive mode into the quantitative mode and Dr Yockey develops this theme, discussing how information theory and coding theory can be applied to molecular biology. He discusses how these tools for measuring the information in the sequences of the genome and the proteome are essential for our complete understanding of the nature and origin of life. The author writes for the computer competent reader who is interested in evolution and the origins of life.

A Short Course in Quantum Information Theory: An Approach From Theoretical Physics (Lecture Notes in Physics)

Lajos Diósi

Amazon Price: $42.79 List Price: $52.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Springer Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $42.79

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> General

Editorial Review:

This short and concise primer takes the vantage point of theoretical physics and the unity of physics. It sets out to strip the burgeoning field of quantum information science to its basics by linking it to universal concepts in physics. An extensive lecture rather than a comprehensive textbook, this volume is based on courses delivered over several years to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, but essentially it addresses anyone with a working knowledge of basic quantum physics. Readers will find these lectures a most adequate entry point for theoretical studies in this field.

Cryptographic Security Architecture: Design and Verification

Peter Gutmann

Amazon Price: $79.11 List Price: $99.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Springer Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $52.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Certification Central -> Exams -> Security+
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Computer Science -> Information Theory
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Hardware -> PCs

Editorial Review:

A cryptographic security architecture is the collection of hardware and software that protects and controls the use of encryption keys and similar cryptovariables. It is the foundation for enforcing computer security policies and controls and preempting system misuse.

This book provides a comprehensive design for a portable, flexible high-security cryptographic architecture, with particular emphasis on incorporating rigorous security models and practices. "Cryptographic Security Architecture" unveils an alternative means of building a trustworthy system based on concepts from established software engineering principles and cognitive psychology. Its novel security-kernel design implements a reference monitor that controls access to security-relevant objects and attributes based on a configurable security policy.

Topics and features:

* Builds a concise architectural design that can be easily extended in the future

* Develops an application-specific security kernel that enforces a fully customizable, rule-based security policy

* Presents a new verification technique that allows verification from the high-level specification down to the running code

* Describes effective security assurance in random number generation, and the pitfalls associated therewith

* Examines the generation and protection of cryptovariables, as well as application of the architectural design to cryptographic hardware

The work provides an in-depth presentation of a flexible, platform-independent cryptographic security architecture suited to software, hardware, and hybrid implementations. Security design practitioners, professionals, researchers, and advanced students will find the work an essential resource.