Author: Dan Schiller

Publisher: Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press

ISBN-10: 0-252-03132-6

ISBN-13: 978-0-252-03132-8

How to Think about Information is a softbound book with 9 chapters distributed within 3 sections.  This is a quasi-academic work, as the university press publisher and extensive endnotes suggest.  The academic or researcher, therefore, is likely to find this book of interest as a primer and/or vehicle for thought-provoking digestion.  The non-academic or layperson is also likely to find the book palatable, in form, but only if (formally or informally) well-educated.

            My interest in selecting this book for review comes from my own research and work in the area of information asymmetry.  Therefore, it is from this (an academic researcher’s) perspective and for this target market or audience that my initial comments originate from and apply to.

            For the academic, accustomed to digesting academic research journal articles, this book can be read in less than 1 day and might be characterized as a primer or thought piece.  Content does not appear to include academically rigorous theory development or empirical results/work.  Because the book is published by a university press, some might be led to expect otherwise.

            Information theory is a very broad area in academia.  Were one to use a university library search engine to search this topic or key words/phrase, an avalanche of publication in economics, accounting, marketing, operations management, and other (business) disciplines would be identified.  Those engaged in these research pursuits may not find this book to represent great value.  However, this book might be appropriate for communications majors, at both graduate and undergraduate levels, and the academic historian, political scientist, sociologist or political sociologist engaged in streams of research directly or indirectly related to “information theory.”  In all cases, and in the case for academic research, in general, greater structure would have been preferable.  Conclusions supported by figures, tables, quantitative or qualitative measures and/or more structure would have been desirable.  I found the historical perspective particularly interesting, for example, but would have preferred to see exhibits representing key points along the historical timeline complimentary.

This book is well-written and is written for a relatively well-educated target audience.  It is most likely to be of interest to those with a college education or academics and interested in the fields of communications and/or the historical, political and social evolution of “information theory.”

 The above review was contributed by: Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II.    Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews