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September, 2011: The Blind Watchmaker
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By David · 47 posts · 151 views
last updated Jun 21, 2018 05:08AM
April 2011 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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By David · 32 posts · 163 views
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What science book is your most recent read? What do you think about it? Pt. 1
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last updated May 14, 2013 01:49AM
September 2013 Group Read Nominations
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September 2014 nominations
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What Members Thought
While nothing in this book is really new, Gleick has managed to pull together a fascinating, comprehensive review of the subject of information. The book does an excellent job unifying a vast subject area. I appreciate the book's emphasis on the contributions of Claude Shannon to the field of information theory. Also, it is eye-opening to be reminded, that an animal's body is simply the vehicle that a gene--i.e., information--uses to self-replicate. And it was fun to learn about earlier methods
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Seen in light of Ellul's concerns about "la technique" (the process and technology of progress, this is not a good definition but it will do- see The Technological Society), this book could be about some kind of horror: how our very words have changed our brains and turned us into the generators of this strange thing: the information. The book gives concrete examples, many. This history is fascinating and meaningful; in the information age the descriptive history alone makes this a book everyone
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Near the end the book has the phrase "We find ourselves overwhelmed by all the things that words might mean." That is how I felt about this book, it is overwhelming in its attempt to show that the world is information. Everything from biology to nuclear physics can be looked at as information flow. It was nice to read about early forms of communicating over distance and of the characters of some of the scientists.
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If you can slog thru the first 3/4 the last 1/4 is very interesting. Not sure if the subject matter was over my head or what, but I did have some difficulty.
Apr 25, 2011
Ryan
marked it as to-read
Apr 26, 2011
AER
marked it as to-read
May 27, 2011
Shelley
marked it as to-read
Jun 12, 2011
Bridget
added it
Aug 06, 2011
bsc
marked it as to-read
Nov 04, 2011
Robert
marked it as to-read
Dec 01, 2011
John J.
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2012
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
marked it as back-at-library
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review of another edition
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Aug 22, 2012
Oni
marked it as to-read
Apr 18, 2013
Casey
marked it as to-read
Feb 12, 2019
Britt Aamodt
marked it as to-read
