Book description
Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books 2012, the
world's leading prize for popular science writing.
We live in the information age. But every era of history has had its
own information revolution: the invention of writing, the composition of
dictionaries, the creation of the charts that made navigation possible,
the discovery of the electronic signal, the cracking of the genetic code.
In 'The Information' James Gleick tells the story of how human beings
use, transmit and keep what they know. From African talking drums to
Wikipedia, from Morse code to the 'bit', it is a fascinating account of
the modern age's defining idea and a brilliant exploration of how
information has revolutionised our lives. '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 James Gleick was born in
New York in 1954. He worked for ten years as an editor and reporter for
The New York Times. He is the bestselling author of Chaos, Genius,
Faster, What Just Happened and a biography of Isaac Newton.
