This monograph is a summary and theory of human speech recognition. It builds on and integrates the work of Fletcher, Miller, and Shannon. The long-term goal is to develop a quantitative theory for predicting the recognition of speech sounds. In Chapter 2 the theory is developed for maximum entropy (MaxEnt) speech sounds, also called nonsense speech. In Chapter 3, context is factored in. The book is largely reflective, and quantitative, with a secondary goal of providing an historical context, along with the many deep insights found in these early works.