I just ordered James Gleick’s The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, and am pretty excited about it. Information theory is so incredibly elegant and ineffable (especially to the students in my DigiPen compression class). It feels as if we are still just scratching at the implications in terms of encoding, transmission, compression, encryption, and perhaps genetics, conscious
ness and the nature of reality, too. I loved reading Gleick’s Chaos, and Genius back in the day. I am hoping this new work will offer some insights into Shannon and the riddle that is Information vs Entropy. Of course I am older and more cynical now than when I first reach Chaos while still in College…
