A Mathematical Theory of Communication

I think you're right that you shouldn't learn from the "fundamental" books but there definitely are such a thing as fundamental books. They are usually hugely influential in their times but have been refined or made easier to digest since. If you care deeply about your field you should read them at some point to see how ideas evolved historically. English: Shakespeare Biology: Darwin's Origin of Species Math: Euclid's Elements For OP's topic, I'd say Shannon's "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" is up there for computer science.