Intended to be the basis of an introductory course for undergraduates, this text grew from a class for financial managers at Lucent Technologies. Its goal is to help students without a formal engineering or computer science background understand the science underlying information technology, which will continue to deeply affect all professions. Courses based on the book may emphasize any of several objectives: general literacy in the principles and vocabulary of IT; background in the issues and changes driving the IT revolution, such as data networking and wireless communications; background in specific subsets of IT, such as virtual reality and business information systems; or preparation for further study in disciplines like computer science and electrical or computer engineering. The accompanying CD-ROM contains virtual lab experiments and works with both Windows and Macintosh systems. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)