The Information

A History, A Theory, A Flood

By: James Gleick

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Paperback | 1 January 2011

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The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanished as soon as it was born. 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 provides portraits of the key figures contributing to the inexorable development of our modern understanding of information: Charles Babbage, the idiosyncratic inventor of the first great mechanical computer; Ada Byron, the poet′s brilliant and doomed daughter, who became the first true programmer; pivotal figures like Samuel Morse and Alan Turing; and Claude Shannon, the creator of information theory itself.

And then the information age comes upon us. Citizens of this world become experts willy-nilly: aficionados of bits and bytes. And they sometimes feel they are drowning, swept by a deluge of signs and signals, news and images, blogs and tweets. ′The Information′ is the story of how we got here and where we are heading. It will transform readers′ view of its subject.

About the Author

James Gleick was born in New York in 1954. He worked for 10 years as an editor and reporter for the New York Times. He is the bestselling author of Chaos, Genius, Faster and What Just Happened?

Industry Reviews

'An audacious book which offers remarkable insight. Gleick takes us, with verve and fizz, on a journey from African drums to computers, liberally sprinkling delightful factoids along the way. This is a book we need to give us a fresh perspective on how we communicate and how that shapes our world.' The Royal Society Winton Prize Judges 'Mind-stretching but enlightening ... the power and breadth of the ideas involved cannot but make you marvel.' Daily Mail 'Magisterial...It is not merely a history of information, but also a theory and a prospectus. To describe it as ambitious is to engage in almost comical understatement.' Matthew Syed, The Times 'A deeply impressive and rather beautiful book.' Philip Ball, Observer 'The fascinating story of how humans have transmitted knowledge...broad and occasionally brilliant.' Sunday Times 'This is a work of rare penetration, a true history of ideas whose witty and determined treatment of its material brings clarity to a complex subject.' Tim Martin, Daily Telegraph

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