The book is intended as a text in coding theory for students in computer science, mathematics and engineering. It deals only with binary codes and those over fields of characteristic two and makes a point of not introducing unnecessary mathematics. For example, the description of cyclic codes as ideals in a ring, is not emphasized here. On the other hand the level of mathematics used is more than adequate for the purpose. The book intersperses the introduction of new mathematical concepts with their immediate application to coding. It covers code construction, encoding and decoding and emphasizes the use of coding in practice. All of the important notions of coding and decoding of both block and convolutional codes are covered. The useful classes of BCH and Reed- Solomon codes are covered in some detail, along with the popular methods of decoding them. Burst error correcting codes are discussed as well as their application to compact disc encoding. Convolutional coding and Viterbi decoding, in common use on a variety of communication channels, are considered. The book is perhaps closest in spirit to that of Blahut with perhaps less detailed coverage of some aspects of coding. It provides an excellent introduction to the subject at a level that allows all of the important concepts to be developed.