The Information

A History, a Theory, a Flood

By: James Gleick

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

James Gleick, the author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius, now brings us a work just as astonishing and masterly: A revelatory chronicle and meditation that shows how information has become the modern era’s defining quality - the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world.

The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanishes as soon as it is born. From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long-misunderstood talking drums of Africa, 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 brilliant and doomed daughter of the poet, 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 arrives. Citizens of this world become experts willy-nilly: Aficionados of bits and bytes. And we sometimes feel we 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.

©2011 James Gleick (P)2011 Random House

Critic reviews

"Accessible and engrossing." ( Library Journal)

Life-Changing Book

It is difficult to describe how important this book is. The underlying concepts it investigates in all things information theory and beyond lay out a map of how the modern world can be understood. It provides a great history of information as a concept but as a real, mathematical thing with as much substance as any other theory, and, it could be argued, makes a valid case for how it can be used to describe and understand all other theories.

Fine book

Fine book.

Depressing if you’re a human reading it though.

An interesting exercise in now AI will try to write.

long listen

Captivating at times, drawn out many others. Very very long and hard to pay attention.

Informative History of Information

Would you consider the audio edition of The Information to be better than the print version?

The audio was nice, but there are many parts of the book that are long lists. This is fine in a book, but it was a little tedious to listen to. The long lists are my only complaint about the audio format.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The earlier chapters are more dense and filled with great background. I think these chapters were more informative than the later chapters.

What does Rob Shapiro bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He did a good job of not making the more technical chapters sound like a technical manual. His voice and speed kept the story moving at a good pace.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

This was not a story that has moving moments. That aside, I thought the 2nd chapter was fantastic.

Any additional comments?

This is a good book. The first third is really good. The remainder is interesting, but does not illuminate as well. Since this is not a narrative book starting strong and ending weak is not a real shortfall. This book is worth listening to.

great book

super interesting topic, however the narrator makes it boring sometimes. A great piece of reading

Astonishingly relevant

Easily one of the five best books I've ever read. It is difficult to imagine any non-experts who would not find this work endlessly fascinating and absorbing. Gleick's powers of far ranging synthesis and clear compelling explanation are awe-inspiring.

Good, not great

Enjoyed many sections, but not as enlightening as I was led to believe by a friend. I do feel it was worth the purchase and time.

Making Information Interesting - A Job Well Done

If you could sum up The Information in three words, what would they be?

Making Information Interesting

What did you like best about this story?

Gleick not only traces the history of information and communication through history, but he changes our way of looking at information. Information actually is how society orders everything.

Have you listened to any of Rob Shapiro’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I have listened to Shapiro before, but this might be his best performance yet. He is always conversational, accents and characterization are always realistic, and moderation of tone is masterful.

If you could give The Information a new subtitle, what would it be?

How we order our world.

Any additional comments?

In taking us on the journey on how computers learned to think like humans, we humans actually learn something about how we think ourselves. A triumph.

Information as reality

If you could sum up The Information in three words, what would they be?

Information, the prime mover

What did you like best about this story?

the challenge of looking at

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Humans as hosts for the DNA

Any additional comments?

A definite Challenge to conventional ways of viewing life.

Jim's review

Great book and great narration listened to it twice. may listen again in the future for a review update.