I get no kickback for this, but I highly recommend Behrouz Farhang's "Software Radios" book, was surprised not to find it listed in the GR resources wiki page.
There is plenty of math involved no matter which route you go, which scares away some. I would say though that there are some authors (notably, Proakis), that fully buy into the hateful "torturing undergraduates" concept with lots of obfuscation and a style that assumes the reader is already a p.h.d. Also, (last I knew) Behrouz's "additional materials CD" is a free, anonymous download. Try doing that with a Pearson Education or McGraw-Hill title... [/rant]
73
Max