Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Pantheon (2011), Edition: 1st, 544 pages
Description
From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long misunderstood "talking drums" of Africa, James Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. He also provides portraits of the key figures contributing to the inexorable development of our modern understanding of information, including Charles Babbage, Ada Byron, Samuel Morse, Alan Turing, and Claude Shannon.
Media reviews
The heart of Gleick’s book is his treatment of the new information theory that Shannon — and computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing, noisily brilliant pioneer Norbert Stuart Wiener and many others — created in the middle decades of the 20th century. But Gleick loops backward to
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discuss early efforts at messaging and storage, from drum messages to dictionaries, and forward to make clear the massive consequences of what Shannon and the others wrought. ...
Gleick is a technological determinist, in a moderate way. He argues elegantly that the telegraph promoted everything from the weaving of networks to the building of skyscrapers and the creation of a new “telegraphic” style of communication.
It seems a pity, accordingly, that he does not say more about the ways in which information theory and its technical progeny have changed our ways of reading and writing, doing research and listening to music. ... Show Less
A highly ambitious and generally brilliant effort to tie together centuries of disparate scientific efforts to understand information as a meaningful concept. For a society that believes itself to live in an information age, the subject could hardly be more important. That the project doesn't fully
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succeed has more to do with the limits of our understanding than with Gleick's efforts. Show Less
Bestselling science and technology writer Gleick (Genius) gives a brilliant, panoramic view of how we save and communicate knowledge-from ancient African drumming to alphabets, the telegraph, radio, telephone and computers-and provides thrilling portraits of the geniuses behind the inventions.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bragan
This sprawling volume explores of the idea of information: how we encode and transmit it, how we think about it, and what we do with it. Gleick starts out talking about African drum signals, the invention of writing, and the advent of the telegraph, then moves on through Charles Babbage and his
I was already familiar with a lot of the scientific and mathematical ideas here, so the parts I found most interesting involved the ways in which our worldviews and our ways of thinking about knowledge and information have changed over the centuries. I might almost have preferred more of an emphasis on that, actually, but I'm not really complaining. Overall this was well-written, thought-provoking, and definitely worth reading.
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early anticipation of the computer age and into discussions of mathematics, computer science, cryptography, biology, and physics, exploring the ways in which the concept of "information" has evolved in and influenced all of these various fields. Some of this stuff gets a bit technical, but I think Gleick does a good job of presenting it all without making it either too simplistic or too dry. He finishes it all up with a couple of relatively light chapters about the deluge of information we're all now exposed to, thanks to the internet, and how we are or aren't handling it.I was already familiar with a lot of the scientific and mathematical ideas here, so the parts I found most interesting involved the ways in which our worldviews and our ways of thinking about knowledge and information have changed over the centuries. I might almost have preferred more of an emphasis on that, actually, but I'm not really complaining. Overall this was well-written, thought-provoking, and definitely worth reading.
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LibraryThing member haig51
James Gleick does a remarkable job detailing the history of information and communication from the first scratchings on a cave wall to the cyberspace of today and the quantum information systems of tomorrow. He starts off not at the origin of symbolic language, but a short time after, when those
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ephemeral sounds between mortal humans leaped out of our minds and crystalized into timeless artifacts and immortal ideas that would forever change our culture and our world. Gleick traces the origins of both writing and mathematics to their historical beginnings and tracks the progress of these formalisms along with the theories and technologies that enabled their innovation and dissemination. He gives the reader both a clear explanation of each innovation as well as personal biographical accounts of the pioneers that made them possible. Both the breadth and the depth of the material is enlightening, and the writing is entertaining as well. Show Less
LibraryThing member BenTreat
As he did with chaos theory, decades ago, Gleick now attempts to introduce information theory to a popular audience. The book includes lengthy sections on Babbage and Shannon, surrounded by shorter discussions on other important topics (quantum information theory, information overload, etc.).
The
Some parts seem to overreach. On page 16, for instance, Homer, Virgil, and Aeschylus are cited as sources who recount the use of fire beacons in the Trojan War. The Homeric epics are no guide to 12th century Mediterranean technologies, since they are considered to contain numerous 8th century anachronisms. Certainly, Virgil and Aeschylus are even further removed. If the best source for this information was poetry, several centuries removed, then the example (which was not vital to the chapter) should probably have been left out. One could make too much of this, but a misstep occurring so early in the book made me wary (probably unnecessarily so) of other conclusions and summaries offered by the author.
The section on the information deluge was appropriate in its length and coverage; so much has been written about this, elsewhere and recently, that this section could easily have been overdone. I would have appreciated attention to Jaron Lanier, here, but this is a personal preference and not a necessity.
Gleick's use of Marshall McLuhan was interesting, in that McLuhan merely popped in frequently, rather than having his own spot in the book. This was disappointing, as McLuhan is an interesting character to include when discussing the social impact of information, new media, etc. But at 426 pages (plus the seemingly exhaustive index and the extensive notes and bibliography), the book probably could not bear any additional close character studies.
This book would be most useful to a reader who wants to learn about information theory in order to understand other, denser work, or to critique other popular information/Internet-related texts. Gleick excels at humanizing abstract concepts.
The
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book includes an early, slightly off-kilter discussion of the origins of information in early writing systems. Some conclusions here seem questionable. The genealogy of alphabet --> information seemed incomplete and perhaps a little Eurocentric. Some parts seem to overreach. On page 16, for instance, Homer, Virgil, and Aeschylus are cited as sources who recount the use of fire beacons in the Trojan War. The Homeric epics are no guide to 12th century Mediterranean technologies, since they are considered to contain numerous 8th century anachronisms. Certainly, Virgil and Aeschylus are even further removed. If the best source for this information was poetry, several centuries removed, then the example (which was not vital to the chapter) should probably have been left out. One could make too much of this, but a misstep occurring so early in the book made me wary (probably unnecessarily so) of other conclusions and summaries offered by the author.
The section on the information deluge was appropriate in its length and coverage; so much has been written about this, elsewhere and recently, that this section could easily have been overdone. I would have appreciated attention to Jaron Lanier, here, but this is a personal preference and not a necessity.
Gleick's use of Marshall McLuhan was interesting, in that McLuhan merely popped in frequently, rather than having his own spot in the book. This was disappointing, as McLuhan is an interesting character to include when discussing the social impact of information, new media, etc. But at 426 pages (plus the seemingly exhaustive index and the extensive notes and bibliography), the book probably could not bear any additional close character studies.
This book would be most useful to a reader who wants to learn about information theory in order to understand other, denser work, or to critique other popular information/Internet-related texts. Gleick excels at humanizing abstract concepts.
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LibraryThing member Popup-ch
Gleicks's book is a historic overview of the evolution of 'information theory', discussing the very concept of communication, from early alphabets to the proliferation of Wikipedia entries.
The main hero of the book is Claude Shannon, the engineer who first applied the concept of 'entropy' to
There is also a chapter dedicated to the (at the time) unsung duo of Babbage and Lovelace, where he shows how their work - while impractical at the time - also presaged the same general development.
Another important subject is formal systems, and their inevitable incompleteness - Here he echoes Douglas Hofstadters Gödel, Esher, Bach, but also another book that deserves mentioning,Tor Nørretranders Mærk verden, (In English rendered as The User Illusion).
The book concludes with a chapter on 'information overdose', the case when too much information actually impedes decision-making. Very interesting, as I was listening to Malcolm Gladwells book Blink in parallel; a book that champions the idea that it's more important to consider the right information rather than all the information in order to make the right decision.
I think this book well deserves it's place next to Hofstadters tome.
¹ The tone is occasionally rather chatty, such as when he comments that the 'talking drums' have recently been replaced by mobile phones in less than a generation.
The main hero of the book is Claude Shannon, the engineer who first applied the concept of 'entropy' to
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information, and showed how this could be used for cryptography as well as for compression - but the book also shows how Samuel Morse had similar ideas when he invented his famous code, and how even the 'talking drums of Africa'¹ employed the same mechanisms of a small code-set complemented by redundancy.There is also a chapter dedicated to the (at the time) unsung duo of Babbage and Lovelace, where he shows how their work - while impractical at the time - also presaged the same general development.
Another important subject is formal systems, and their inevitable incompleteness - Here he echoes Douglas Hofstadters Gödel, Esher, Bach, but also another book that deserves mentioning,Tor Nørretranders Mærk verden, (In English rendered as The User Illusion).
The book concludes with a chapter on 'information overdose', the case when too much information actually impedes decision-making. Very interesting, as I was listening to Malcolm Gladwells book Blink in parallel; a book that champions the idea that it's more important to consider the right information rather than all the information in order to make the right decision.
I think this book well deserves it's place next to Hofstadters tome.
¹ The tone is occasionally rather chatty, such as when he comments that the 'talking drums' have recently been replaced by mobile phones in less than a generation.
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LibraryThing member co_coyote
James Gleick can make just about any topic interesting and engaging. He is one of the finest science writers of our time. But with information theory he really has chosen a tough row to hoe. It is a confusing, subtle mis-mash of counter intuitive ideas that has to be pulled together into a coherent
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whole. Glick manages to pull it off with his usual clarity and sense of style. This is one of those science books that I keep thinking about over and over again. Very well done. Show Less
LibraryThing member neurodrew
Subtitle: A History, A Theory, A Flood.
I have read and enjoyed James Gleick's previous books, and also enjoyed this volume, a description of the information theory developed by Claude Shannon. The book starts with a history of information storage and transmission, from the redundancy in African
I have read and enjoyed James Gleick's previous books, and also enjoyed this volume, a description of the information theory developed by Claude Shannon. The book starts with a history of information storage and transmission, from the redundancy in African
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drumming, needed to overcome the problems in transmission, to the printing press, which made information more stable, less subject to errors in copying. Shannon developed his theory while working for Bell labs, in order to improve transmission of phone calls. Along the way are described early telegraph codes, and the use of private codes to reduce telegraph key strokes; the first phone directories; the publication of vast compendiums of calculated answers that are now accessible by computer, and the explosion of information in digital storage. Show Less
LibraryThing member love2laf
Completely fascinating, although, at time, over my head. Would love to own!
LibraryThing member fpagan
Long, wide-ranging, and quite resistant to brief summarization, but rightly centered on Claude Shannon's work of the mid-1900s. The short physics chapter refers to Wheeler's "It from Bit" idea and whimsically offers that "the bit is the ultimate unsplittable particle." (p 357) Myself, I wonder if
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(seemingly dimensionless) information could somehow be given a fundamental dimensional status comparable to mass, length, and time. Could physics (having annexed computer science as a subdiscipline?) then proceed to give us a scientific understanding of things in the universe like observers and consciousness? Or are these questions completely crazy? Show Less
LibraryThing member BookWallah
Well written, engaging, far reaching romp through information theory. Never thought I would see this as a popular science book. Recommended for anyone with so long attention span, as some of those concepts will require an effort to sort through. Worth the effort.
LibraryThing member br77rino
The early chapters were boring, but the later ones were great.
LibraryThing member paulkeller
a bit of a disappointment. there are lots of hidden gems in there (the story about the midwest farmers using fences as local telefone networks!) but all in all it is a rather difficult read. i found it quite challenging to drag myself though the first 13 pr so chapters that primarily deal with
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advances in theory. It is quite frustrating that this suddenly changes with the last two chapters which deal primarily with anecdotal evidence documenting the information explosion of the last two decennia. It never becomes really clear how the two parts of the book relate to each other (other than that the first part provides some much needs historical perspective on the second). Personally i had expected that more of the first part would come back in the 2nd. [unexpected bonus: i think that i finally understand entropy]. Show Less
LibraryThing member dazzyj
Fascinating study of the genesis and development of information as a scientific subject in is own right.
LibraryThing member sthitha_pragjna
Gripping account by Gleick. His section on Babbage (who married Lord Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace, who also ran the analytic engine) is excellent. The whole book is a veritable tour de force. Destined to become a classic.
LibraryThing member michaelbartley
a very interesting and thoughful book about how we as community have more access to information. this is a great read actually exciting book
LibraryThing member waitingtoderail
This may not be my favorite book of the year, but it's up there, and it may be the most influential. This is an introduction to information theory that isn't perfect, but is pretty understandable - I lost him a bit near the end - and has me wanting to learn more. Anyone who can get me to add a book
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on hard-core math to my wish list must be doing something right. Show Less
LibraryThing member SwitchKnitter
This book was fabulous. It looks at everything from African talking drums to the telegraph to quantum computing to Wikipedia. Everything is woven together nicely by the author. It's not what I was expecting, though -- there's way more science and math than I would have thought, but it makes for a
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fascinating book. I definitely recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member tlockney
As I just commented to a friend: "Absolutely loved it. The chapter about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage was perhaps among the best chpaters of any book I have ever read. That's the only way I know how to put it -- this book left me wishing it was twice as long."
LibraryThing member mullerd
The title is promising, however the book does not live up to the expectations. It's more a story about the influence of Claude Shannon than anything else. The part about the history of the telegraph is great to read.
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
James Gleick is one of my favorite popular science authors and he doesn't disappoint in this book either. While the book is quite long, it only tells have of the story. In my view, the uninteresting half. The development of the different information technologies is well told. The familiar cast of
He should have distinguished between data and information. Information has to be both new and relevant to the sender. Otherwise it just creates information (actually data) overload. A general introduction to some of the paradoxical results of information remains to be written. One example: You have to know the information to assess its value. But why would you pay for something that you then already know? This paradox lies at the heart of the media's struggle and inability to make the user pay for information.
A good but incomplete read that hides its incompleteness from its readers.
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Babbage, Lovelace, Shannon, Gödel and Turing are given loving portraits and their ideas well explained. With Richard Dawkins' meme, Gleick reaches the present. What he fails to realize, is that information is subjective. Gleick's objective, physicist's world breaks down in social systems. He brushes upon this in his discussion of contaminated memes but does not continue his journey on to communication theory and sociology.He should have distinguished between data and information. Information has to be both new and relevant to the sender. Otherwise it just creates information (actually data) overload. A general introduction to some of the paradoxical results of information remains to be written. One example: You have to know the information to assess its value. But why would you pay for something that you then already know? This paradox lies at the heart of the media's struggle and inability to make the user pay for information.
A good but incomplete read that hides its incompleteness from its readers.
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LibraryThing member BillPilgrim
This book covers the history of information theory. Some of it is very technical and although I was able to follow the basics, it was really beyond me. I mostly just tried to keep moving through those parts, and take in as much as I could. But, a lot of the book was fascinating, and held my
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interest, particularly, stories about the first dictionaries, the use of semaphore to transfer information long distances, until it was replaced by the telegraph, African talking drums, and others. Show Less
LibraryThing member St.CroixSue
Fascinating history of information. How we transmit it, organize it, retrieve it, filter it and the impact it has on how we live and think. I loved this book especially the chapter on Wikipedia. SRH
LibraryThing member Katong
So far, so awesome. If I had a band, it would be called Spooky Action from a Distance
LibraryThing member librarianbryan
This is book is a history of information theory and an examination of how this theory impacted other scientific fields and society as a whole. The gist of information theory is that it measures information quantitatively regardless of meaning. Thinking about information in this way helps a lot when
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thinking about quantum physics and molecular biology. The theory originated within electrical engineering and it is there; e.g., digital formats, microcomputers, and the internet, that it affects our everyday lives the most. Or maybe it is our DNA where it affects us the most? You will learn a lot about the unsung heroes who created our conceptions of contemporary scientific ideas. Though Gleick profiles a lot of scientists with nova-like minds, it feels like the book is a tribute to Claude Shannon. If you read between the lines, Gleick feels maybe Shannon hasn’t gotten his due in popular culture as much as other one name science icons.For subject matter as inherently mathematical (and some would say dry as Jeff Fisher’s mouth the day he got fired) Gleick’s book is very engaging. I listened the audio version, so extra kudos to reader Rob Shapiro for enlivening the text. You will learn a heady amount about randomness, codes, symbolic logic and talking drums but Gleick doesn’t do a good enough job tying it all together. Individual chapters will blow your mind but the whole book doesn’t hang together well. Nor does it explain how Shannon’s information theory led to the internet (at least enough to satisfy me) despite the fact the book is marketed as such. Considering the difficulty of the task at hand, I’ll give Gleick a pass. This book will put a new wrinkle on your brain.Recommended for science nerds, math wonks, snoot librarians, or anyone who made it past the sentence “this book is a history of information theory…”But yeah, Claude Shannon deserves a postage stamp. Show Less
LibraryThing member figre
This is a book that covers everything you could want to know about “information”. This is a book that goes too far afield in trying to cover everything. This is a book that lays a solid foundation for understanding where we are today. This is a book that spends too much time on histories that
Your mileage may differ.
Yes there is a lot of information in this book about information. And, sometimes it can feel like too much. But I would rather an author try for more and not quite make it than settle for less and succeed.
Gleick gives us everything we could want to know and more. We learn about how information is transmitted by African drums. We learn about the origin and impossibility of dictionaries. We learn about all that Babbage tried to do with his calculating machines and never accomplished because he wanted to do more. We learn about codes and code breakers. We learn about randomness. We learn about how technologies fundamentally change who we are.
We are guided from the drums to the molecules of information.
In a way, the book is a metaphor for what it is trying to say – that we have more information than we know what to do with. Similarly, this book has more information than it knows what to do with. However, the best advice is to dive into that information. Better to miss some of it than all of it.
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are unimportant.Your mileage may differ.
Yes there is a lot of information in this book about information. And, sometimes it can feel like too much. But I would rather an author try for more and not quite make it than settle for less and succeed.
Gleick gives us everything we could want to know and more. We learn about how information is transmitted by African drums. We learn about the origin and impossibility of dictionaries. We learn about all that Babbage tried to do with his calculating machines and never accomplished because he wanted to do more. We learn about codes and code breakers. We learn about randomness. We learn about how technologies fundamentally change who we are.
We are guided from the drums to the molecules of information.
In a way, the book is a metaphor for what it is trying to say – that we have more information than we know what to do with. Similarly, this book has more information than it knows what to do with. However, the best advice is to dive into that information. Better to miss some of it than all of it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Phrim
I definitely thought this book was enjoyable and informative. However, maybe it's just because I don't read much non-fiction, but I wish it presented a more cohesive story. In essense, each chapter could be read as an individual essay that didn't need the greater context of the book--it just seemed
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a little disjointed to me. I really enjoyed the sections on Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace--I felt like I got to know them a little as people. I wish there was more personal backstory about the other historical figures. On the whole, I'm glad I read this book, but I was hoping for a little bit more. Maybe my future excursions into non-fiction will focus more on biography. Show Less
Awards
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Science & Technology — 2011)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2011)
Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize (Shortlist — 2012)
Salon Book Award (Nonfiction — 2011)
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2012)
PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award (Winner — 2012)
SB&F's Best Books (2011)
PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize (Shortlist — 2012)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Nonfiction — 2011)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Social Sciences — 2011)
Notable Books List (Nonfiction — 2012)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Nonfiction — 2011)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011-02-03
Physical description
544 p.; 9.66 inches
ISBN
0375423729 / 9780375423727