A Mind at Play

How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age

By: Rob Goodman, Jimmy Soni

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Claude Shannon was a tinkerer, a playful wunderkind, a groundbreaking polymath, and a digital pioneer whose insights made the Information Age possible. He constructed fire-breathing trumpets and customized unicycles, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots, but he also wrote the seminal text of the Digital Revolution. That work allowed scientists to measure and manipulate information as objectively as any physical object. His work gave mathematicians and engineers the tools to bring that world to pass.

Now, Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman bring Claude Shannon's story to life. It's the story of a small-town boy from Michigan whose career stretched from the age of room-sized computers powered by gears and string to the age of the Apple desktop. It's the story of the origins of information in the tunnels of MIT and the "idea factory" of Bell Labs, in the "scientists' war" with Nazi Germany, and in the work of Shannon's collaborators and rivals. It's the story of Shannon's life as an often reclusive, always playful genius. With access to Shannon's family and friends, A Mind at Play explores the life and times of this singular innovator and creative genius.

©2017 Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Lucid and fascinating...Soni and Goodman open an engrossing window onto what a mind hard at work can do." ( Publishers Weekly)

A very interesting story

Such an interesting and very humble man - we were very lucky he came to be.

Amazing insight!!!

It blows me away that a man with this intelligence and foresight can be only a couple miles away from me growing up near cambridge Massachusetts . A mind opening experience...

The book is great, but I hated the reader

No offense to the guy that read this book, but I hated everything about his voice and the way he read it. It made an otherwise engaging story incredibly difficult to stomach. I wish I'd bought the hard copy.

Soo-ey generous?

Wait for it.

Interesting life, well presented. As the authors write at the end, nothing near the name recognition of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but those guys weren't going anywhere without Claude Shannon.

great bio of a great man

entertaining, Informative read. well narrated, good flow. the book has a good balance of history and theory

Wrong narrator.

Not sure why this narrator was chosen. His style fits the telling of a fairy tale or fantasy novel. Book wasn't as compelling as it could have been.

Educational, inspiring and entertaining

I enjoyed every minute. If you think about digital age, maybe you would think about Gates, Jobs or Zuckerberg... but long before them there was Claude Shannon, a brilliant and modest genius whose curiosity and thirst for knowledge made this and all other audiobooks possible.

Well researched & clear

Their explanations of the math and engineering were lucid and interesting. I learned a lot about Shannon’s life and the context around and people within it. But I was hoping for more lessons I could apply to my own life besides to be curious.

Information [Transmission] Theory

Excellent read. There were a few slow spots but plow through because the book is full of gems. A real delight to learn about Claude Shannon. It certainly convinced me that Information Theory would probably have been better named as Information Transmission Theory. Also, I really got a kick out of a story about Claude Shannon helping his daughter with her math homework and saying, "Why did they change math?"

Fascinating in-depth look at Shannon

If you are intrigued by the mentions of Shannon in "The Idea Factory" and "The Information" you will appreciate and enjoy the depth of focus upon his life, work, and play. But for him, were those really three separate things?