The Information

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.

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

About the author

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.