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Comment by SocksCanClose | Hacker News Reader

Those interested in reading a more narrative-style recounting of Mr. Shannon's efforts ought pick up a copy of "The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood" by James Gleick. It is one of the most fantastic books I have ever read. Informative, entertaining, engrossing. From Babbage's learning machines through the present, I can think of no better introduction to these critical concepts.

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Gleick's book encouraged me to read Shannon's The Mathematical Theory of Communication.

Shannon's conversational tone in the first half is amazing. This is a primary work, laying out a novel idea, but it reads as if it were the most self-evident thing there is, and you're just being nudged along a little bit. Was this the norm in the 40s for technical papers, or was Shannon just a great writer? (The second half delves deeper in the calculus behind it, which I found difficult).

Anyway, The Information is a great read indeed, but Shannon's original is surprisingly engaging and accessible.

No, Shannon was just a great writer. For instance, Turing's writings haven't aged as well.

I recommend reading Gleick's book in conjunction with Simon Winchester's "The Professor and the Madman" and Walter Isaacson's "The Innovators". Gleick's work is deeper than the other two, but the three books combine to form a fascinating picture of how humans have shaped - and been shaped by - information theory over the last ~150 years.

Gleick's book is one of my favorite books, period.

A good followup would be Jon Gertner's The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation. A great read and has a chapter or two devoted to Shannon.

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