A Mathematical Theory of Communication This is the Sacred Text of Information Theory:

Some people believe that Shannon's work, especially in this article, represents a towering scientific achievement of the twentieth century, comparable to Einstein's work, and that Shannon should be recognized for supplying the foundations of communications theory.

``A Mathematical Theory of Communication'', by Claude E. Shannon. Bell System Technical Journal, July and October 1948, Vol. 27, pages 379-423, 623-656 (55 pages in the newer version below).

Additional materials:

  • Shannon bibliography: all papers.
  • Claude E. Shannon : Collected Papers, by Claude Elwood Shannon (Editor), A. D. Wyner (Editor), Neil J. A. Sloane, 968 pages, Wiley-IEEE Computer Society Pr; (April 2001) ISBN: 0780304349.