​​an Introduction to Information Theory

This book considers a relatively new metric in complex systems, transfer entropy, derived from a series of measurements, usually a time series. After a qualitative introduction and a chapter that explains the key ideas from statistics required to understand the text, the authors then present information theory and transfer entropy in depth. A key feature of the approach is the authors' work to show the relationship between information flow and complexity. The later chapters demonstrate information transfer in canonical systems, and applications, for example in neuroscience and in finance.

This book covers encoding and binary digits, entropy, language and meaning, efficient encoding and the noisy channel, and explores ways in which information theory relates to physics, cybernetics, psychology, and art.

In a very broad sense, "spaces" are objects of study in geometry, and "functions" are objects of study in analysis. There are, however, deep relations between functions defined on a space and the shape of the space, and the study of these relations is the main theme of Morse theory.