An edition of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (2011)

The Information

A History, a Theory, a Flood

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Cover of: The Information by James Gleick, James Gleick
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  • ★★★★ 4.0 (21 ratings)
  • 73 Want to read
  • 3 Currently reading
  • 28 Have read
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Last edited by bitnapper
July 18, 2025 | History
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An edition of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (2011)

The Information

A History, a Theory, a Flood

by

  • ★★★★ 4.0 (21 ratings)
  • 73 Want to read
  • 3 Currently reading
  • 28 Have read

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.

Publish Date
Publisher
Pantheon Books
Language
English
Pages
526

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Previews available in: English

Subjects

History Information science Information society Long Now Manual for Civilization Information Informationssamhället Informations- und Dokumentationswissenschaft Informationsgesellschaft Historia Informationsvetenskap Kommunikation Kultur Information theory Information technology nyt:e-book-nonfiction=2011-03-20 New York Times bestseller New York Times reviewed Communication and technology Information superhighway Communication Société informatisée LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES Library & Information Science General

People

Claude Shannon Charles Babbage (1791-1871) Ada Byron Samuel Morse Alan Turing Stephen Hawking Richard Dawkins John Archibald Wheele

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Cover of: The Information
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood
2011, Pantheon Books
in English

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Book Details

Table of Contents

Drums that talk
Persistence of the word
Two wordbooks
To throw the powers of thought into wheel-work
A nervous system for the Earth
New wires, new logic
Information theory
The informational turn
Entropy and its demons
Life's own code
Into the meme pool
The sense of randomness
Information is physical
After the flood
New news every day.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Published in
New York

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
020.9
Library of Congress
Z665 .G547 2011

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.
Number of pages
526

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL24538398M
ISBN 10
0375423729
ISBN 13
9780375423727
LCCN
2010023221
OCLC/WorldCat
607975727

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL15586927W

Source records

Work Description

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood begins with the tale of colonial European explorers and their fascination with African talking drums and their observed use to send complex and widely understood messages back and forth between villages far apart, and over even longer distances by relay. The book then covers informational implications of technologies from drum signaling to the long distance telephone.

Starting with symbolic written language, The Information examines the history of intellectual insights central to the development of information theory, detailing key figures responsible such as Claude Shannon, Charles Babbage (1791-1871), Ada Byron, Samuel Morse, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins and John Archibald Wheeler.

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