A Mind at Play

How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age

Soni, Jimmy 저자(글)

Simon & Schuster · 2017년 07월 18일

책 소개

Winner of the Neumann Prize for the History of Mathematics

**Named a best book of the year by Bloomberg and Nature**

**'Best of 2017' by The Morning Sun**

"We owe Claude Shannon a lot, and Soni & Goodman’s book takes a big first step in paying that debt." -San Francisco Review of Books

"Soni and Goodman are at their best when they invoke the wonder an idea can instill. They summon the right level of awe while stopping short of hyperbole." -Financial Times

"Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman make a convincing case for their subtitle while reminding us that Shannon never made this claim himself." -The Wall Street Journal

"Soni and Goodman have done their research...A Mind at Play reveals the remarkable human behind some of the most important theoretical and practical contributions to the information age." -Nature

"A Mind at Play shows us that you don't need to be a genius to learn from a genius. Claude Shannon's inventive, vibrant life demonstrates how vital the act of play can be to making the most of work." -Inc.

“A charming account of one of the twentieth century’s most distinguished scientists…Readers will enjoy this portrait of a modern-day Da Vinci.” -Fortune

In their second collaboration, biographers Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman present the story of Claude Shannon-one of the foremost intellects of the twentieth century and the architect of the Information Age, whose insights stand behind every computer built, email sent, video streamed, and webpage loaded. Claude Shannon was a groundbreaking polymath, a brilliant tinkerer, and a digital pioneer. He constructed the first wearable computer, outfoxed Vegas casinos, and built juggling robots. He also wrote the seminal text of the digital revolution, which has been called “the Magna Carta of the Information Age.” In this elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography, Soni and Goodman reveal Claude Shannon’s full story for the first time. With unique access to Shannon’s family and friends, A Mind at Play brings this singular innovator and always playful genius to life.

작가정보

저자(글) Soni, Jimmy

Jimmy Soni has served as an editor at The New York Observer and the Washington Examiner and as managing editor of Huffington Post. He is a former speechwriter, and his written work and commentary have appeared in Slate, The Atlantic, and CNN, among other outlets. He is a graduate of Duke University. With Rob Goodman, he is the coauthor of Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar, and A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age.

Rob Goodman is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University and a former congressional speechwriter. He has written for Slate, The Atlantic, Politico, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His scholarly work has appeared in History of Political Thought, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, and The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. With Jimmy Soni, he is the coauthor of Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar, and A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age.

목차

• Chapter Page
  Introduction xi
  1.
  1. Gaylord 3
  2. Ann Arbor 13
  3. The Room-Sized Brain 21
  4. MIT 32
  5. A Decidedly Unconventional Type of Youngster 45
  6. Cold Spring Harbor 50
  7. The Labs 61
  8. Princeton 74
  9. Fire Control 83
  10. A Six-Day Workweek 91
  11. The Unspeakable System 96
  12. Turing 103
  13. Manhattan 110
  2.
  14. The Utter Dark 119
  15. From Intelligence to Information 125
  16. The Bomb 138
  17. Building a Bandwagon 165
  18. Mathematical Intentions, Honorable and Otherwise 170
  19. Wiener 175
  20. A Transformative Year 181
  21. TMI 186
  22. "We Urgently Need the Assistance of Dr. Claude E. Shannon" 193
  23. The Man-Machines 199
  24. The Game of Kings 210
  25. Constructive Dissatisfaction 217
  3.
  26. Professor Shannon 223
  27. Inside Information 238
  28. A Gadgeteer's Paradise 243
  29. Peculiar Motions 247
  30. Kyoto 257
  31. The Illness 268
  32. Aftershocks 273
  Acknowledgments 283
  Notes 289
  Bibliography 329
  Illustration Credits 347
  Index 349

출판사 서평

“Claude Shannon wrote the ‘the Magna Carta of the Information Age’ and conceived of the basic concept underlying all digital computers. Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman offer a long overdue, insightful, and humane portrait of this eccentric and towering genius.” (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs, The Innovators, and Einstein)

“An exceptionally elegant and authoritative portrait of a man of few words but many big ideas. Soni and Goodman’s elucidations of Claude Shannon’s theories are gems of conciseness and clarity, and their case for placing him in the same pantheon as Turing and von Neumann is compelling.” (Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award)

“Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman have written a fascinating, readable, and necessary biography of a true American genius. This is the book that finally explains Claude Shannon’s character and career as well as the context of his extraordinary life and times.” (Jon Gertner, author of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation)

“An avid biography full of freewheeling curiosity and fun. It’s a pleasure getting to know you, Claude Shannon!” (Siobhan Roberts, author of Genius at Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway)

“Shannon was to information and communication what Newton was to physics. By following his curiosity through the playground of science, he discovered mathematical laws that govern our digital age. The Shannon I worked with comes alive in these pages.” (Edward O. Thorp, author of A Man For All Markets and Beat The Dealer)

“At last a biography of a man who shaped the Information Age we live in, and a thinker who combined the playfulness of Richard Feynman with the genius of Albert Einstein. For anyone interested in living both a playful and a thoughtful life, there is no better model than Claude Shannon-and no better writing team than Soni and Goodman to have written the book on it.” (Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of The Daily Stoic and The Obstacle Is The Way)

기본정보

ISBN	9781476766683 ( 1476766681 )
발행(출시)일자	2017년 07월 18일
쪽수	384쪽
크기	160 * 229 * 36 mm / 567 g
총권수	1권
언어	영어