The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood Paperback – Illustrated, March 6, 2012

The Information, extraordinary for its universal breadth and depth, is an outstanding survey of the Information Age, its roots, growth, and fruition. In the words of Seth Lloyd: "To do anything requires energy. To specify what is done requires information." And that is what Gleick quite successfully sets out to do: specify what the Information Age is all about.Where others - McLuhan say - offer their own insights, Gleick integrates the findings of philosophers, mathematicians, physicists, biologists, engineers, explorers, authors, and those who have implemented information technologies over the millennia into the mandala of his text. Despite this comprehensiveness and a dash of math, The Information is well within the grasp of a thoughtful general readership.Information development and proliferation is examined from two necessary perspectives: mechanical and meaning, the yin and yang of communications. Mechanical covers how information is conveyed including physics governing the origination, transmission, and duplication at the receiving end. For those familiar with Claude Shannon's work, Gleick gives much play to the work of the father of Information theory, including the link with meaning - the recognition that the degree of uncertainty heightens the value of the information.It seems to me - and this is the reader speaking not to be confused with Gleick or any of his sources - that when applied to meaning, that understanding how uncertainty affects information can go a long way to explaining how misinformation can be so widely circulated during the information age. On the one hand, many people are uncomfortable with the tsunami of information that defines our time, and they seek out the newest (most uncertain) information that supports the maintenance of their comfort zones. Hence it's possible for organizations such as Fox and its phalanx of seemingly insane commentators to continually replicate information with a high degree of uncertainty that can be perpetuated endlessly and without being devalued. Refuting it only increases misinformation's uncertainty and high value. The same principal obviously applies at least to a degree to many religions, propaganda, and information promoting a point of view or an agenda.The chapters delving into meaning, including the fantastic Into the Meme Pool, will have the widest appeal to general readers such as myself. Gleick immediately introduces us to the proposition offered by the Frenchman Jacques Monod that above the biosphere is an "abstract kingdom" of ideas, which are re cognized as replicating, living organisms: "they tend to perpetuate their structure and to breed; they too can fuse, recombine, segregate their content; indeed they too can evolve, and in this evolution selection must surely play an important role." It should be added that information technology itself guides, sometimes controls, but is never absent from that selection process.Gleick also gives generous play to the works of Douglas Hofstadter and Richard Dawkins in this adventuresome exploration of organic thoughts.When it comes to regarding the flood of information that typifies the Information Age, Gleick offers two defenses against being overwhelmed: search and filter. As someone who makes his living figuratively chopping wood and hauling water in the Information Age, I can't argue with that sparse comfort.But my heart soars like a hawk when Gleick invokes Lewis Mumford: "Unfortunately, information retrieving, however swift, is no substitute for discovering by direct personal inspection knowledge whose very existence one had possibly never been aware of, and following it at one's own pace through the further ramification of relevant literature."Ultimately, Gleick invokes Marshall McLuhan: "'we have extended our central nervous systems in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly we approach the final phase of the extensions of man - the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society.'"Books with thought and insight at their heart are a great reward for me, and The Information is a most rewarding read.

Other reviewers have already gone into detail regarding the subject of the book, so I won't belabor that here. The author jumps from talking drums to the telegram to Charles Babbage to transistors, and Gleick is so good at drawing connections between these subjects that it never feels disjointed. It's a really masterful demonstration of how to weave biography, science, and history into one satisfying whole. As a reader with a technical background but no knowledge of the subject, I appreciated the level of rigor in the theoretical sections of the book, although I could see how it might alienate non-techie readers. My advice to them is: read this book anyway, and if it gets too dense, just skip ahead. It's too important, and too well-written, to miss entirely.The book is divided into three sections, and each considers a different question. The "History" section asks: how does the way information is transmitted affect the way we think? One of Gleick's major theses here is that formal logic is a byproduct of written language, and he is very convincing on this point. Another very compelling section was the stuff about early computers, and the story of Babbage and Lady Ada. Gleick has a gift for making scientists relateable, and his enthusiasm for unconventional thinking is contagious.The "Theory" section spells out Shannon's information theory, and brings some much-needed attention to the work of the most influential scientist you've never heard of. As I've said, this part can be a bit technical, which I appreciated, but if that's not your style, you can skim parts of this section without losing the major points. The description of Turing machines was also a highlight. Gleick's exuberant descriptions give the reader a sense of the excitement that the scientists themselves must have felt as they created these deceptively simple, staggeringly powerful theories.Then... the "Flood." I'm a huge fan of Gleick's, but he really dropped the ball on this one. Ostensibly the last section of the book deals with the modern problem of data deluge, but it's a disappointment: there's little research or actual information, and plenty of conflicted hand-wringing. It almost seemed like it had been tacked on by another author. To some extent, this is okay -- data deluge isn't really what this book is meant to be about -- but given how big of a part this section plays in the marketing of the book, I would have preferred that Gleick just left it out entirely and shifted his focus to the book's much stronger sections.The "Flood" section isn't bad, necessarily, just a disappointment compared to the quality and depth of the first two sections. Luckily, it doesn't detract much -- just don't expect more than a cursory look at data deluge from this particular book.All in all, a very strong popular science book (which could just as reasonably be called a history book). If you're a pop science fan, you're probably familiar with some of the ideas and events described here, but only the very rare reader won't have something new and exciting to discover. It's mostly accessible to non-geeks, too; just plan on skimming the occasional section if you're hopelessly math-averse.

What a gem! This best-seller is for all of us who have been interested in the art and science of communications...in all its forms, from African drums to quantum entanglement. That covers a lot of ground: anthropology, biology, physics, math, engineering, art, music, literature, and philosophy!With some effort, one can dip into each of those disciplines and find relevant stuff with which to explain the evolution of information transfer through the ages. But those chunks of progress are scattered; and - even worse - until Claude Shannon gifted us with Information Theory, we had no way to discuss the properties of information, much less to analyze it.If your math chops are really good, you can dig into Shannon's, Hartley's and Nyquist's equations and understand the bits and bauds of Information Theory. Or...you can read this book and have a viscerally satisfying tour, letting the author set you up painlessly for some mind-stretching down the trail. Gleick manages to collect all the scattered concepts and line them up in a logical sequence that's so intriguing you'll want to find the original papers and look at the equations; but this time, you'll be prepared!Best of all...it's fun to read!

The quality of paper can be better. The content is good and it is a one time read for everyone who is interested in Information theory.

El arco narrativo del libro es cronológico, por lo que nos permite ir entendiendo cómo evolucionó el concepto de información, sus usos, sus detractores, sus promotores. Al ser también un tema inacabado creo que el autor acertadamente va cerrando el libro con sus posibles aplicaciones actuales, a nivel tecnología y biología, y deja la puerta abierta a pensar, escribir o reflexionar sobre el significado, como un acompañante natural de la información.

Este é um dos melhores livros que li este ano, sem dúvida alguma! Acho que o James Gleick é um dos melhores autores da atualidade que escrevem sobre ciência para o público em geral. Nesse livro, o autor conta a história do que hoje chamamos de informação desde os primórdios. Desde os primórdios mesmo! O livro começa contando como tambores são usados em tribos da África para enviar mensagens importantes, conta como o alfabeto foi inventado, como o dicionário foi inventado, como o telégrafo, o telefone, e o computador foram invetados, explica o que é a chamada Teoria da Informação, e explica a evolução do conceito de "informação" até os dias de hoje. É um livro relativamente denso, mas excepcional.

Tema trascendental, escrito de forma a la vez rigurosa y muy amena, lleno de humor y erudición no-libresca. Absolutamente recomendable. Una parte importante es muy lenguaje-dependiente. En inglés es estupenda, pero no sé como tolerará la traducción.

Need to keep putting it down to think about the implications of what has been written. Enjoyable well written treatment of the state of information theory.