James gleick, the author of the best sellers chaos and genius, brings us his crowning work. Time travel is another of james gleicks superb, unclassifiable booksrich in obscure and illuminating information, laced with lyricism, wit, and startling and convincing insights. A history, a theory, a flood by gleick, james isbn. A historythat reveals the science behind chaos theory a work of popular science in the tradition of stephen hawking and carl sagan, this 20thanniversary edition of james gleicks groundbreaking bestseller chaos introduces a whole new readership to. James gleick has such a perspective, and signals it in the first word of the title of his new book, the information, using the definite article we usually reserve for totalities like the. Information, communication, and information theory. The author describes how scientists studying the growth of complexity in nature are discovering order and pattern in chaos. The information, by james gleick, is to the nature, history and significance of data what the beach is to sand. Acclaimed science writer james gleick presents an eyeopening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human. Making a new science is a debut nonfiction book by james gleick that initially introduced the principles and early development of the chaos theory to the public. Chaos, the book, though written in 1987, still does an excellent job of connecting the discoveries that opened the door to chaos theory. A historythat reveals the science behind chaos theory a work of popular science in the tradition of stephen hawking and carl sagan, this 20thanniversary edition of james gleicks groundbreaking bestseller chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory.
James gleick is an american author and historian of science whose work has chronicled the cultural impact of modern technology. A history, a theory, a flood, james gleick describes a technological innovation so transformative that it was heralded as one of the grand waymarks in. Gleick introduces us to figures like edward lorenz, whose work in weather prediction revealed that tiny differences in input in even simple mathematical models could lead to vast differences in output over. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 352 pages and is available in paperback format. The millioncopy bestseller by national book award nominee and pulitzer. To accomplish that he opens the book by discussing the advent of drumming, signals, telegraph, telephone and the computer. Then he worked for ten years as an editor and reporter for the new york times. As bestselling author gleick chaos astutely argues, shannons neologism profoundly changed our view of the world. Acclaimed science writer james gleick talks to john naughton about. A work of popular science in the tradition of stephen hawking and carl sagan, this 20thanniversary edition of james gleick s groundbreaking bestseller chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time.
Gleick is active on the boards of the authors guild and the key west literary seminar. A historythat reveals the science behind chaos theory a work of popular science in the tradition of stephen hawking and carl sagan, this 20thanniversary edition of james gleicks groundbreaking bestseller chaos introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one. Making a new science, which was a pulitzer prize and national book award finalist in 1987, and the information. Uncover one of the most exciting frontiers of modern physics in this fascinating, insightful and accessible overview of chaos theory. The highly entertaining new york times bestseller, which explains chaos theory and the butterfly effect, from the author of the information chicago tribune. We personally assess every book s quality and offer rare, outofprint.
James gleick born august 1, 1954 is an american author, journalist, and biographer, whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and technology. He graduated from harvard college in 1976 and helped found metropolis, an alternative weekly newspaper in minneapolis. Twentyfive years ago, a young harvard liberalarts graduate named james gleick, then working for the new york times, became fascinated by an emerging body of science that examined the world not as an orderly chain of being but as a complex, scarcely predictable, sometimes scarcely comprehensible mess of events. This new book goes far beyond the earlier gleick milestones, chaos. In the emergence of claude shannon and alan turings first stirrings of modern information theory, the authors skills as an interpreter of science shine. He is part of the inspiration for jurassic park character ian malcolm. Gleicks books include the international bestsellers chaos. Recognized for his writing about complex subjects through the techniques of narrative nonfiction, he has been called one of the great science writers of all time. It was a finalist for the national book award and the pulitzer prize in 1987, and was shortlisted for the science book prize in 1989.
His first book, chaos, was a national book award and pulitzer prize finalist and a. Wilson literary science writing award, and time travel. Acclaimed science writer james gleick presents an eyeopening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. From the bestselling author of the acclaimed chaos and genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era.
The main characters of this science, non fiction story are. But even as relativity and quantum mechanics undermined that rigid certainty in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific community. A history, a theory, a flood seeks to place information in historical context. A history, a theory, a flood, which won the royal societys winton prize for science and pens hesselltiltman history prize in 2012, among several others. He explains concepts such as nonlinearity, the butterfly effect, universal constants, fractals, and strange attractors, and examines the work of scientists such as mitchell j. The information is so ambitious, illuminating and sexily theoretical that it will amount to aspirational reading for many of those who have the mettle to tackle it. See all books authored by james gleick, including chaos. The software was written by josh gordon, rudy rucker and john walker.
James gleick, the author of the best sellers chaos and genius, now brings us a work just as astonishing and masterly. A former science writer for the new york times, gleick is the author of two bestselling biographies. A history, a theory, a flood,was published in march 2011. The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanishes.
For centuries, scientific thought was focused on bringing order to the natural world. Chaos is a kind of science that deals with the parts of the world that are. James gleicks groundbreaking bestseller chaos introduces a whole new. Information, it seems, is life itself, and gleick shows how shannons information theory not only led to computers and cyberspace, but also transformed biology into an information science. The life and science of richard feynman, isaac newton, and chaos. The life and science of richard feynman, were pulitzer prize finalists. I first heard about this baffling thing, information theory, from chaos scientists. Making a new science, an international bestseller, chronicled the development of chaos theory and made the butterfly effect a household phrase. James gleick is a science historian and author of 11 books. None of his discussion will be news to readers of tim wus exemplary the master switch 2010 or of the old coevolution quarterly, but gleick covers the ground in a way that no other. James gleick is a leading american science journalist, historian, and biographer. James gleick books list of books by author james gleick. Making a new science, all of which were shortlisted for the pulitzer prize. Half of what draws me to physics, to theory, to feynman and fermat.
In theory a computer could let meteorol ogists do what astronomers had been able to do with pencil and slide rule. Making a new science is the bestselling book by james gleick that first introduced the principles and early development of chaos theory to the public. He worked for ten years as an editor and reporter for the new york times, founded an early internet portal, the pipeline, and has written several books of popular science, including the information. He was the 1990 mcgraw distinguished lecturer at princeton university. A quartercenturyand a few stockmarket crashes, the fall of empires and the. James gleick argues that information is more than just the contents of our. The life and science of richard feynman, and more on.
Imagine luxuriating on a wifiequipped desert island with mr. The book was published on october 29, 1987 by viking books. From edward lorenzs discovery of the butterfly effect, to mitchell feigenbaums calculation of a universal constant, to benoit mandelbrots concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, gleick. The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and. Thinking, fast and slow by daniel kahneman the information by james gleick.
The first edition of the novel was published in 1987, and was written by james gleick. Making a new science, explained chaos theory in laymans terms by focusing on the stories of those scientists who were pioneers in the field and was a finalist for the national book award and the pulitzer prize. The millioncopy bestseller by national book award nominee and pulitzer prize finalist james gleickthe author of time travel. This is a free release of the source, manual, and executables of a 1991 autodesk dos program that was called james gleicks chaos. James gleick science writer, threetime pulitzer prize finalist and author of the information.
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