This book offers a concise and up-to-date introduction to the popular field of quantum information. It has originated in a series of invited lecture courses at various universities in different countries. This is reflected in its informal style of exposition and presentation of key results inthe subject. In addition to treating quantum communication, entanglement and algorithms in great depth, this book also addresses a number of interesting miscellaneous topics, such as Maxwell's demon, Landauer's erasure, the Bekenstein bound and Caratheodory's treatment of the Second law ofthermodyanmics. All mathematical derivations are based on clear physical pictures which make even the most involved results - such as the Holevo bound - look comprehensible and transparent. The book is ideal as a first introduction to the subject, but may also appeal to the specialist due to itsunique presentation.

Vlatko Vedral
Centenary Professor of Quantum Information
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
Vlatko Vedral studied his undergraduate degree and PhD at Imperial College (1992-1998). After graduating from his PhD in 1998, he took up a junior research fellowship at Merton College in Oxford where he stayed for two years (1998-2000). He returned to Imperial College in 2000 as a governors' lecturer and was promoted to reader in 2003. In October 2004 he moved to Leeds University as the centenary professor of Quantum Information Science. He has taught at many different universities and held visiting professorships at Oxford, Vienna, Singapore and Perimeter Institute in Canada.
Vlatko Vedral is an active researcher in quantum information and quantum mechanics, having published over 100 papers in these fields. He enjoys explaining science to the media and has been interviewed on a number of occasions regarding his work and the state of the field. He has contributed to several introductory books on quantum computing as well as written a textbook on Quantum Optics.