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A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age Kindle Edition

by Jimmy Soni (Author), Rob Goodman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 784 ratings
Editors' pick Best Nonfiction
See all formats and editions
Winner of the Neumann Prize for the History of Mathematics

"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." —TheWall Street Journal

“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.
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  1. Print length
    385 pages
  2. Language
    English
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  4. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  5. Publication date
    July 18, 2017
  6. File size
    54530 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“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 )

“A brilliant treatment of the life of Claude Shannon, one of the 20th century’s most remarkable scientists in the field of information technology. This giant of a man launched the digital world we now inhabit, but his not the household name it deserves to be. Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman have corrected this with their superb new book presenting Shannon’s amazing personal and professional life.” (Professor Leonard Kleinrock, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, UCLA, and winner, 2007 National Medal of Science )

“We are familiar with the bright young stars who brought us the web, Google and Facebook, but this engaging book demystifies the digital communications revolution and shows how it really began! In telling the story of Claude Shannon, Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman have given a fascinating introduction to the ideas and the people who made our digital age possible.” (Robyn Arianrhod, author of Seduced by Logic: Émilie Du Châtelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution )

“In this fine biography of Claude Shannon, Soni and Goodman make accessible the origins of digital communications while revealing how engineers think deeply not only about things but through things; it was through tinkering that Shannon was able to bring us the modern digital world.” (W. Bernard Carlson, Professor and Chair, Engineering & Society Department, University of Virginia )

“The biography of one of the towering geniuses of the 20th century we have been awaiting for decades. In this veritable labor of love by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman, one has on offer an enthralling and beautifully rendered portrait of Claude Shannon, the mathematician, the engineer, the inventor, the tinkerer, and, above all, the enigmatic man who became the intellectual father of the vital lifeblood of our age: information.” (Professor Sergio Verdu, Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University )

“The fact that there has never been a comprehensive biography of Claude Shannon, “The Father of Information Theory,” has seemed a particularly egregious oversight as the world has hurtled further and further into the Information Age. Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman have finally rectified this injustice. They have woven comprehensive research into a compelling and personal narrative, accessible to non-specialists but also of interest to people in the field for whom Shannon is an almost mythical figure. A Mind at Play is an insightful and moving portrait of the very original genius whose work affects nearly every aspect of the modern age.” (Dr. Mark Levinson, Director, Particle Fever )

“A Mind at Play bubbles over with energy and verve and insight. This is biography as it should be, but seldom is.” (Edward Dolnick, author of The Clockwork Universe )

“A welcome and inspiring account of a largely unsung hero—unsung because, the authors suggest, he accomplished something so fundamental that it's difficult to imagine a world without it.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A key figure in the development of digital technology has his achievements, if not his personality, burnished in this enlightening biography. . . . The authors’ rundown of the science behind these advances, probing everything from the structure of language to the transatlantic telegraph, is lucid and fascinating. . . . Soni and Goodman open an engrossing window onto what a mind hard at work can do.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A Mind at Play takes its readers through the extraordinary life of someone so deserving of this well-researched and smooth-reading biography. Read it. Lose yourself in the pages. For just a few worthwhile hours, you will become a shadow following Shannon’s life and playful mind.” (Joseph Mazur, Author of Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidences )

“Terrific. A Mind at Play is fluidly written, thoroughly researched, and important. It brings to our attention the fascinating life of Claude Shannon, considered by his colleagues to be the Einstein of our information age. It is a story we should all know, and it is a read that you all will enjoy.” (Martin J. Sherwin, coauthor (with Kai Bird) of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. )

"Claude Shannon (1916–2001) is to computer science what Newton is to physics: the mind that revolutionized its field. . . . a warm and engaging portrait that traces Shannon from his Michigan boyhood to his standing as a modest scientific celebrity." (BOOKLIST)

"Soni and Goodman deftly illustrate how personality, humility, courage, and, above all, curiosity facilitated [Shannon’s] historical contributions. In addition to sympathizing with Shannon’s awestruck colleagues and starstruck graduate students, readers will come away with a feeling of having gotten to know the man personally. . . . For historians, philosophers, cryptographers, geeks, introverts, and anyone who has ever taken something apart to understand how it works." (Library Journal)

"In A Mind at Play, journalist Jimmy Soni and political theorist Rob Goodman tell Shannon's story engagingly, from the perspective of a lay reader wrestling with the sophisticated ideas that Shannon explored with dedication and panache. The book is a boon for those eager to know more about his incredibly influential life — whimsical, independent and curiosity-driven....Soni and Goodman have done their research. [A] vivid portrayal." (Nature)

“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)

“What we learn most from this biography is how Shannon was as a person: A tinkerer and a loner who preferred to work with his door closed, but kind and patient if one cared to enter.” (Euro Math)

"This is the most comprehensive biography of the man I've come across."

(Brain Food)

"To read this book is to take a journey through history and understanding...Simply put, this will henceforth be one of the books I can’t shut up about when people ask for recommendations. If you enjoy anything at all about the digital age we live in, go out and get yourself a copy...You should know how these things that bring you joy, or money, or allow you to communicate easily have come into being. And for all of it, you owe a debt of gratitude to the man who is the subject of this thoroughly well-written book; Claude Shannon."

(Agent Palmer)

"If Soni and Goodman manage to make the key ideas the centrepiece, they also succeed in maintaining interest in the man behind the theory." (Financial Times)

“Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman make a convincing case . . . Without Shannon, the digital revolution would have ground to a halt.” (Wall Street Journal)

You know Einstein, but you should know Shannon. A Mind at Play, a charming account of the life of Claude Shannon, one of the 20th century's most distinguished scientists, makes that compelling case. The biography is full of entertaining bits about the thinker-tinkerer who first divined the significance of the bit (aka "binary digit," the fundamental unit of information). Readers will enjoy this portrait of a modern-day Da Vinci from his incredible early career breakthroughs to the more flippant pursuits of his later years, like juggling through the halls of Bell Labs on a unicycle, or engineering a flame-throwing trumpet. (FORTUNE)

About the Author

Jimmy Soni is an award-winning author. His newest book, The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley, was a national bestseller and received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, The Economist, Financial Times, and more. His previous book, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age, won the 2017 Neumann Prize, awarded by the British Society for the History of Mathematics for the best book on the history of mathematics for a general audience, and the 2019 Middleton Prize by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his daughter, Venice.

Rob Goodman is an assistant professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he teaches and writes on topics such as populism, rhetoric, and the history of political thought. He previously worked as a speechwriter in the US House and Senate. He is an award-winning author and coauthor of several books, including Words on Fire: Eloquence and Its Conditions. He lives in Toronto with his family.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01M5IJN1P
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Unabridged edition (July 18, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 54530 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 784 ratings

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  1. Rob Goodman

    Rob Goodman

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    Rob Goodman is an assistant professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, where he teaches and writes on topics such as populism, rhetoric, and the history of political thought. He previously worked as a speechwriter in the US House and Senate. He is an award-winning author and coauthor of several books, including Words on Fire: Eloquence and Its Conditions. He lives in Toronto with his family.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Jimmy Soni

    Jimmy Soni

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Jimmy Soni is an award-winning author. His last book, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age, won the 2017 Neumann Prize, awarded by the British Society for the History of Mathematics for the best book on the history of mathematics for a general audience, and the Middleton Prize by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). His most recent work, Jane’s Carousel, completed with the late Jane Walentas, captured one woman’s remarkable twenty-five-year journey to restore a beloved carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his daughter, Venice.

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
784 global ratings
The authors put great effort into researching Shannon
4 Stars
The authors put great effort into researching Shannon
The authors put great effort into researching Shannon, and the work shows. I appreciated their attempts to grapple with his theories, and to translate them for lay readers (though I do wish they'd delved more into Shannon's key ideas, esoteric as they may be). Solid prose, too. As a last note, I confirmed the author's claim about Shannon's gravestone (proof attached).
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Top reviews from the United States

Oliver
5.0 out of 5 stars An extraordinary book about an extraordinary mathematician.
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2017
Verified Purchase
Biographies of extraordinary mathematicians usually also have extraordinary
titles: examples are "The man who knew infinity" (Ramanujan), "A beautiful
mind" (Nash). "The man who loved only numbers" (Erdos) or "Perfect Rigor"
(Perelman). This applies also for the title for the book under review.
"A mind at Play" is a book about a Coryphaeus and father of information theory.
But as the book title indicates already, Shannon was a person who liked to tinker,
both with ideas and objects. It is really strange that no serious biography about Shannon
has been written before. Fortunately this is now done. The book is well
written, filled with many details. I learned for example that Shannon,
while working at MIT, lived on 5 Cambridge Street, just opposite the
Winchester Country club. It is a house I have been running by countless of
many times. That home - now in the national register of historic places
- was called the "Entropy House" by the Shannon family. Claude Shannon
also took up running while living there. I can imagine now while jogging
myself the Mystic lakes, that this was the place where Shannon also
ran his rounds. I really like the attention to details which shows that
the book is well researched. The reader who wants to visit the grave
of Shannon knows to look for that at the Begonia path in Mount Auburn
Cemetery in Cambridge. (Pilgrims of graves have to be advised however not
to visit Shannon while jogging. I took once a jogging detour to visit
the grave of Julian Schwinger, who also rests in Mount Auburn cemetery
but was chased away the guards - by car of course as guards in uniform
can not run as fast as I can ...) The book contains many photographs,
concentrated in the later part, just before chapters of "aftershock",
acknowledgments and many notes and also a detailed bibliography which
makes this book the starting point for anybody who wants to research more
about Shannon. It is a treasure trove for every Shannon fan and also a
book explaining the adventure of a genius. There is a nice quote at the
beginning of the book which ends with "One suspects that the geniuses
will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven - if indeed, they ever make it;
they have had their reward." You have to get the book to get the full
quote and the full story about this extraordinary mathematician.
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A. Menon
4.0 out of 5 stars A look at the personal side of Claude Shannon, the father of information theory
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2017
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A mind at play is a look into the life of Claude Shannon, the father of information theory. In terms of the history of science, those of more of an engineering focus have sometimes been overlooked and Shannon could be considered to be one of those who has fallen into this category. Modern communications networks are founded upon many many layers of ideas but information and coding theory are definitely foundational material to what our current technology utilizes. The authors take a look at Shannon's life with a focus on his general disposition as well as accomplishments. One gets a sense of the great man's life and personality as we as his technical accomplishments.

The book is split into three parts beginning with his childhood in Michigan and the early years of computing. Shannon did his undergraduate work in Michigan before going to work with Vannevar Bush at MIT. The authors detail the attitudes of the engineering department and how they were practical tinkerers rather than academic engineers. This attitude was one that stayed with Shannon throughout his professional life.
The authors also detail Shannon's first marriage, his overlap with the incredible minds in Princeton at the institute of advanced study and the environment during the war. The authors move onto Shannon's career at Bell Labs which was a unique institution where base scientific research was permitted independently of its commercial applicability. The company was an incredibly vibrant place and produced a large number of Nobel laureates. Also Shannon's personal life is weaved in and the authors give the history of how he met his second wife. The authors discuss how Shannon's professional responsibilities shrank as his fame was at its highs; the playful side of Shannon comes out as he spent hours mastering chess while employed at Bell Labs. The authors detail Shannon's move to MIT and his teaching style; they endeavor to portray Shannon as brilliant but unstructured lecturer who inspired many but was not perfect for all students. They discuss at some length things like Shannon's paper on juggling; again they used an example of something somewhat frivolous to highlight the nature of Shannon and his balance between serious academic and playful engineer.

A Mind at Play is a good mixture of personal and professional history and one does get a good sense of Claude Shannon the man rather than just Claude Shannon the information theorist. I enjoyed reading the book but it will definitely disappoint the reader looking for some technical details. It is light on explaining what Shannon is really famous for and how it is used today. Worth the read for the personal side of things but definitely weak on anything else.
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Setsuna
5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome book to read for everyone interested in IT and its history
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2017
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As an IT professional I didn't even know who Claude Shannon was, I stumbled upon is name here and there but didn't know the character nor his achievements. A Mind at Play allowed me to learn all of this and more, and I'm glad to have corrected my ignorance, it is a really great book.
This book has two sides, as a biography, and as historical explanation of what is Information theory and how it came to be. The technical explanations, never too complex, are nevertheless complete enough to understand the concepts and are well written.

Globally, a fascinating book about a fascinating man and the birth of a fascinating field, I can't recommend it enough.

---

En tant qu'informaticien je ne savais pas qui était Claude Shannon, je croisais son nom ici et là mais ne connaissait ni le personnage ni son travail. A mind at play m'a permis d'apprendre tout cela et bien plus encore, et je suis plus que satisfait d'avoir pu combler mes lacunes sur le sujet, c'est un excellent livre.
Le livre a deux axes, en tant que biographie, et en tant qu'explication historique de la théorie de l'information et comment elle est née. Les explications techniques, jamais trop complexes, sont néamoins suffisamment complètes pour comprend les concepts et sont bien écrites.

Dans l'ensemble, un livre fascinant au sujet d'un homme fascinant et de la naissance d'un domaine fascinant, je ne peux que le recommander.
Notes pour les lecteurs français, le livre est très compéhensible et dans un anglais accessible.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Tito Spadini
5.0 out of 5 stars O livro sobre o Pai da Teoria da Informação
Reviewed in Brazil on December 1, 2023
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Este livro ajuda a compreender uma importante parcela da vida de um dos maiores gigantes do conhecimento que tivemos na história da humanidade. Ao contrário de quase todo material produzido por Shannon, este livro, que não foi escrito por ele, não traz níveis elevados de conhecimentos sobre matemática, engenharia ou computação.

Não é um livro técnico, um Text Book, projetado para estudar algum assunto específico que fora produzido por Shannon. É um livro sobre sua vida e sua obra, se é que podemos separar um do outro.

O papel não é tão bom quanto eu esperava que fosse pelo preço que eu havia pago, mas gostei do fato de a versão que eu comprei ter capa dura e acompanhar uma luva muito bonita, que trazia em si a imagem dessa capa, que, embora seja relativamente simples, é bastante elegante, principalmente ao vivo.

A meu ver, todo aluno de graduação ou pós-graduação que atue com Teoria da Informação deveria ler esse livro ao menos uma vez. Matemática, Ciência da Computação, Engenharia da Computação, Engenharia Elétrica, Engenharia Eletrônica, Engenharia de Controle e Automação etc. Todos deveriam ler.
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Cliente Kindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Mind at Play
Reviewed in Germany on January 19, 2024
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A Mind at Play" is a captivating exploration of the life and genius of Claude Shannon, the father of modern information theory. This meticulously researched biography takes readers on a fascinating journey through Shannon's groundbreaking contributions to the world of mathematics, engineering, and computing. If you're curious about the mind behind the Information Age, this book is a must-read. If you're interested in the history of technology and the brilliant minds that shaped our modern world, "A Mind at Play" should be at the top of your reading list. This book masterfully weaves together the personal and professional aspects of Claude Shannon's life, shedding light on the man behind the theories that underpin today's digital revolution. "A Mind at Play" provides an accessible and engaging narrative about the life of Claude Shannon, making it an ideal choice for both tech enthusiasts and those with a general interest in biography. It's a testament to the power of curiosity and innovation, showcasing how one man's creative thinking revolutionized the way we communicate and process information.
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Fra48
1.0 out of 5 stars La copia è incredibilmente stampata parzialmente al contrario
Reviewed in Italy on September 15, 2023
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Mi sono arrivate due copie guaste con il testo parzialmente stampato al contrario
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AM
3.0 out of 5 stars A good biography
Reviewed in France on September 5, 2020
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This is a good biography of Claude Shannon and can make a pleasant read. Still, several chapters are extended a bit too thin in technical (or mathematical) explanation and too long in prose, often with not so clear clarification of what this genius actually created.
I doubt that if I had no previous technical information on the work of Shannon, I would have understood it from this book.
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ron
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Tinker
Reviewed in Canada on December 7, 2017
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Provides background on a brilliant tinker and man. We should know more about one of the brilliant thinkers that opened up our present world of communication, data gathering and social media. Bell Labs must have been a wondrous place for cross pollination and learning. Too bad it has shorten its horizons and become more oriented toward short term commercial success. But is a prime example of what made North America a brilliant place where merit was able to shine. Too bad we are no longer as open and risk taking as we once were. Now it seems we are more interesting in protecting our status and what we have rather than finding or developing more.
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