ommunications: Fundamentals and Applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1988. An older book, but in my opinion a classic. (The second edition will be coming in early 2001.) I learned telecommunications using it, and I enjoyed it. Well-written for the most part, and includes some details not included in this book. 2. J.G. Proakis, Digital Communications, 4th Edition, Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2000. This is THE classic book in the field. The book is a little tough to read in places (intended for the graduate student audience) but it is a wonderfully detailed book and a great reference. For further reading on the topics in Chapter 1 and 2, try: 3. J.G. Nellist, Understanding Telecommunications and Lightwave Systems: An Entry-Level Guide. IEEE Press, 1995 A nice little book that gives a nontechnical introduction to telecommunication systems. A good book if you want to introduce someone without a strong techni- cal background to the field. 4. Roger B. Hill, "The Early Years of the Strowger System," Bell Laboratories Record, Vol. XXXI No. 3, p. 95. www.privateline.com/Switching/EarlyYears.htm The cited article is reprinted on this website, which also has a lot of other interesting material on telephone history. For further reading on the topics in Chapter 3, try: 5. A. Oppenheim, A. Willsky and H. Nawad, Signals and Systems, Second Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1996. Annotated References and Bibliography An introduction to signals and systems, which is required background reading if you want to thrive in the world of telecommunications. A little bit wordy in places, but definitely a solid book in the field. 6. I've yet to find a great book in the area of probability and statistics for engi- neers. I'd recommend going to your favorite on-line bookseller and see what catches your attention. One that others have recommended is Applied Statistics and Probability for Engineers, D. Montgomery et al., John Wiley & Sons, 1998. For further reading on the topics in Chapter 4, try: 7. A. Gersho and R.M. Gr