  A simple method for finding the entropy and redundancy of a reasonable long
sample of English text by direct computer processing and from first principles
according to Shannon theory is presented. As an example, results on the entropy
of the English language have been obtained based on a total of 20.3 million
characters of written English, considering symbols from one to five hundred
characters in length. Besides a more realistic value of the entropy of English,
a new perspective on some classic entropy-related concepts is presented. This
method can also be extended to other Latin languages. Some implications for
practical applications such as plagiarism-detection software, and the minimum
number of words that should be used in social Internet network messaging, are
discussed.
