Claude Shannon's "A Mathematical Theory of Communication"[1] is often considered a classic. I think this is because:
1. It's quite readable as a narrative.
2. The maths is not pages of first principle derivations as if the reader is not familiar with the basics of algebraic substitution.
3. The diagrams and graphs are genuinely useful and remove the need for many, many thousands of words that others may have used instead of, or in addition to, the core narrative.
4. It deals with an abstract concept but roots it in concrete mathematical and physical terms. He touches on specific examples.
5. It's quite short given the breadth of subject area.
IMO Shannon does an amazing job laying out the foundational ideas behind cryptographic security in a way that is very accessible to anyone with a basic understanding of probability.
The clarity and simplicity that he achieves is especially striking when you compare his approach to what you’ll see from modern cryptographers. No offense to those guys - they’re amazing - but accessible their stuff is not.
I agree with you but what’s so amazing is that it is a first principles analysis. He postulates a few criteria information must satisfy and generates a whole field of study as a consequence
His easily-understandable yet mind-blowing ideas of hyperspheres of information (and a reliable communications channel having a definition!? What?) changed my brain permanently.
1. It's quite readable as a narrative.
2. The maths is not pages of first principle derivations as if the reader is not familiar with the basics of algebraic substitution.
3. The diagrams and graphs are genuinely useful and remove the need for many, many thousands of words that others may have used instead of, or in addition to, the core narrative.
4. It deals with an abstract concept but roots it in concrete mathematical and physical terms. He touches on specific examples.
5. It's quite short given the breadth of subject area.
[1] https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shanno...