The Information by James Gleick
This a is big book (544 pages) but quite an easy read. It has taken me less than a week to make my way through using both print and ebook versions of the text, depending on which was most convenient at the time. Both copies, as is typical, came from the Los Angeles Public Library, to which I offer my undying appreciation.
Now, granted, I am more than a bit of a geek, but I have come to love overviews of specific scientific concepts. In this book, Gleick follows the path of information in our history. More precisely, he discusses the progression of our understanding of information as it exists in all parts of our lives. The discussion of computers appears surprisingly late in the history. Information existed long before the digital computer. It might also be said that all the scientific theorizing about information that occurred before its introduction were critical to its discovery/invention. Without deep understanding of mathematics and boolean logic, the modern-day computer could not exist.
If you desire a deeper understanding of the information concepts that lie beneath your computer screen — as well as your entire life — The Information can show you the way.
More 2012 Gift Guide Items:
- Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
- Bulb Planting Tools
- Blue Snowball Microphone
- Seagate Backup Plus 500 GB USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive
- Logitech C920 HD Web Cam
- We Are All Weird by Seth Godin
- Sunset Western Garden Book – New Edition for 2012
- The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings
- Garden Mysteries by Anthony Eglin
- The Creative Habit/The Collaborative Habit by Twyla Tharp
- Moleskeine Journals
- Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening (3rd Edition): Month by Month
- Podcasting for Dummies/Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies
- Wacom Bamboo Splash Pen Tablet
- Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead
- The $64 Tomato
- Blue Yeti Microphone
- BioLite CampStove/HomeStove
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- The Curious Gardener
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- GoPro HD HERO 3
- Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart
- The Starfish and the Spider by Orj Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
- Microphone Boom Arms