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Information: The New Language of Science Paperback – Illustrated, November 30, 2005

4.6 out of 5 stars 35 ratings
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Confronting us at every turn, flowing from every imaginable source, information defines our era--and yet what we don't know about it could--and does--fill a book. In this indispensable volume, a primer for the information age, Hans Christian von Baeyer presents a clear description of what information is, how concepts of its measurement, meaning, and transmission evolved, and what its ever-expanding presence portends for the future.

Information is poised to replace matter as the primary stuff of the universe, von Baeyer suggests; it will provide a new basic framework for describing and predicting reality in the twenty-first century. Despite its revolutionary premise, von Baeyer's book is written simply in a straightforward fashion, offering a wonderfully accessible introduction to classical and quantum information. Enlivened with anecdotes from the lives of philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists who have contributed significantly to the field, Information conducts readers from questions of subjectivity inherent in classical information to the blurring of distinctions between computers and what they measure or store in our quantum age. A great advance in our efforts to define and describe the nature of information, the book also marks an important step forward in our ability to exploit information--and, ultimately, to transform the nature of our relationship with the physical universe.

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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    November 30, 2005
  4. Dimensions
    5.43 x 0.68 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0674018575
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0674018570
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Editorial Reviews

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“Hans Christian von Bayer is well known for explaining the complexities of science to the rest of us, and in this book he lives up to his reputation by taking on one of the most difficult concepts around--information. Starting with his characterization of information as a gentle rain that falls on all of our lives, he leads us through a universe in which information is woven like threads in a cloth. Masterful!”―James Trefil, Clarence J Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University and co-author of The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

“In Information, physicist Hans Christian von Baeyer sets out to explain why...information is the irreducible seed from which every particle, every force and even the fabric of space-time grows. This is deep stuff, but von Baeyer romps through a huge range of subjects, including thermodynamics, statistics, information theory and quantum mechanics with ease....You will never think of information the same way again.”―New Scientist

“Von Baeyer has provided an accessible and engaging overview of the emerging role of information as a fundamental building block in science.”―Michael Nielsen, Nature

“Delving into the history of science from ancient Greek theories of the atom to the frontiers of astrophysics, [Von Baeyer] shows how the concept of information illuminates a huge variety of phenomena, from black holes to the gamesmanship strategies of Let's Make a Deal...Von Baeyer manages to steer clear of equations without resorting to the hand-waving metaphors that too many science popularizers lapse into when trying to convey difficult ideas. The result is a stylish introduction to one of the most fascinating themes of modern science.”―Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover

Whether TV shows or cell phone and internet traffic, whether encoded in the radio waves that fill the atmosphere or coursing through wires of copper and glass, information, in its electronic form, surrounds us. And equally copious to this is the realm of physical information, that which mediates between reality and our understanding of it. Our senses record and interpret it; our brains manipulate and process it; our genes pass it from one generation to the next; and the need to share it is an attribute common to every member of the animal kingdom.But what actually is information? Can it be analyzed and measured? Why, if information is such an essential ingredient of the world around us, is it not yet part of the vocabulary of physical science? In this exciting, enlightening, and extraordinary book, Hans Christian von Baeyer addresses these and many other questions, revealing how the concept of information can cast light on principles as diverse as thermodynamics in physics and heredity in biology. For, despite its shadowy, paradoxical, and subjective nature, this is a concept of unarguable importance and power, one that could soon become just as central to science as space, time, mass, or energy - if not more so.With a narrative marked out by its clarity and sheer readability, von Baeyer takes us from the roots of the theory through to the coal-face of modern physics and beyond, deftly unpicking the many strands that knit information so tightly into the fabric of the universe. Along the way, he illuminates topics from gaming theory and probability through to black holes, the history of Morse Code, the future of computing and the role of philosophy in contemporary physics - all whileunderlining this emergent and rapidly developing field as the key to a fundamental new scientific language.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 30, 2005
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Illustrated
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674018575
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674018570
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.9 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.43 x 0.68 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 35 ratings

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Hans Christian Von Baeyer

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Doctor Whom
    5.0 out of 5 stars we are his partners, not just his students. A Great Book.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    He thinks: therefore we are.
    I urge everyone to devour this book, or at least to nibble slowly until completed.
    I have read and am reading many books aimed to assist a lay person to participate intellectually in the quantum world, which suggests that the quantum world is protophysical. The limitations of Newtonian, Einsteinian, and even thermodynamic perceptions do not apply in the spooky world of entanglement. Information is universally simultaneous. It does not need to travel. It already is everywhere. Are we endanger of using a phrase Newton applied to gravity, but that more likely applies to quantum fields? Newton described gravity as “god’s sensorium”. Von Baeyer helps us follow his elegant thinking that he lays out as precisely as equations.
    One person found this helpful
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  • siobhan harmon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great
    Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Great
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  • Christopher Frenzen
    5.0 out of 5 stars An informative book on information, beautifully written....
    Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2004
    Format: Hardcover
    What a delightful surprise to stumble across this book on Amazon a few months ago, before it had even been released. Since I was familiar with and greatly admired von Baeyer's book on Maxwell's Demon, ``Warmth Disperses and Time Passes'', I immediately pre-ordered a copy of ``Information--The New Language of Science''.
    How pleasant to find it dropped on my doorstep a week ago (3/16/04).
    The book is published by Harvard University Press, so physically it is very high quality. Von Baeyer is an excellent expositor, and has written several books on science for the lay person.
    Check out his other books by all means.
    Information, as a physical quantity, has been rapidly evolving. It is destined to play a pivotal role in this century, especially in physics. We now distinguish between classical and quantum information, and it is safe to say that there are many mysteries still unsolved about how information is to be understood and what role it plays in the universe.
    Von Baeyer's book begins with eight chapters on background information (pardon the pun!) --- how our ideas of information have evolved, the idea of the bit, Shannon's information theory, the role of genetic information in biology, the tension between the ideas of reductionism and emergence in the sciences, and a hint at how the ideas of Bohr, Wheeler, and Zeilinger suggest that, ``Science is about information.''
    The next ten chapters flesh out our understanding of classical information. The connection between probability and classical information is explored, as is Boltzmann's discovery of the microscopic interpretation of entropy, noise, Shannon's model of communication theory, bioinformatics, and the discoveries of Landauer and Bennett about the destruction of information and the reversibility of computation.
    Then follow four chapters on quantum information. Here we close in the frontier of our understanding. There is a discussion of some of the `weird' things that happen in the quantum mechanical model of the world, and the qubit, the quantum bit, a rich, complex object offering, perhaps, incredible opportunities for quantum information processing. There is a discussion of quantum computing, and finally, black holes. There are deep, deep mysteries lurking here. For example, information is conserved in a natural process described by quantum mechanics. Yet in Stephen Hawking's Black Hole Information Paradox, information disappears into black holes! Black holes involve general relativity, so the marriage between general relativity and quantum mechanics seems destined to involve an understanding of what seems to be a universal currency, information.
    For me the last two chapters in the book, on `Work in Progress' were the most inspiring. Here we have a discussion of the frontier, of information theory beyond Shannon, of new entities called bucks, hits, and nuts. The last chapter discusses Zeilinger's brave attempt (1999) at a `foundational principle for quantum mechanics' --- `an elementary system carries one bit of information.' This work is only a few years old, and leaves the breathless reader wanting......MORE INFORMATION !
    This is an exciting book, worth 5 stars in my opinion. It is well written, timely, and thought provoking. I wish it had more figures, and even some photographs to make it more visually appealing, but no matter, it is mentally stimulating, and leaves the curious reader wondering. One can't ask for more than that.
    43 people found this helpful
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  • ST65
    4.0 out of 5 stars readable and fun.
    Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Informative, readable and fun.
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  • Nassim Nicholas Taleb
    5.0 out of 5 stars Probability From the Front Door: Information Theory
    Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2012
    Format: Paperback
    If you want an introduction to information theory, and, in a way, probability theory from the real front door, this is it. A clearly written book, very intuititive, explains things, such as the Monty Hall problem in a few lines. I will make it a prerequite before more technical great books, such as Cover and Thompson.
    25 people found this helpful
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  • Chris Crawford
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great
    Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    This is a good book but not a great book. The author does a decent job of laying out all the basic concepts of modern thinking about information: classical concepts of entropy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Claude Shannon's revolutionary reformulation of the problem, and modern concepts of qubits. The writing is brightened by some brilliant metaphors and sparkling descriptions. However, it fell short of my expectations in several areas.

    It made no mention of Maxwell's Demon, a paradox created by James Clark Maxwell around 1870. This thought experiment presented a means by which the Second Law of Thermodynamics could be subverted -- meaning that the Second Law isn't really a law! Now, everybody knew that this couldn't be, yet nobody could come up with a way to kill Maxwell's Demon until 1951, when he was finally done in with a quantum mechanical explanation based on the necessity of the Demon using information to perpetrate his crime against the Second Law. This was a crucial point in the development of our concepts of information -- it demonstrated that the Second Law is fundamentally a "conservation of information" law. Yet this book breathes nary a word of this profound development.

    Another striking omission was the Uncertainty Principle, the realization that triggered the quantum mechanics revolution and provides the fundamental basis for recognizing information as a finite quantity. This major milestone in the development of concepts of information merits only a passing mention in this book.

    Another gaping hole was the treatment of biology. There is a perfunctory discussion of genetic information content, but completely missing was any discussion of the biosphere capturing the negentropy (information) from the sun.

    Lastly, I felt that the explanation of the relationship of entropy to information -- through such concepts as orderliness -- was weak. The author addresses this concept, but instead relies on looser terms such as "form", so the point isn't driven home as clearly as it could have been.

    Then there are the digressions. The pages devoted to Democritus' atomic hypothesis are, I think, wasted; all readers know about atoms and the material doesn't affect any subsequent discussions. Similarly, the discussions of special relativity and general relativity, while intrinsically interesting, are not germane to the subject at hand and only serve to confuse the reader. And I think that the discussion of Bayes Theorem does nothing to advance the reader's understanding.

    I think the book is best in its overall presentation of the paradoxes that quantum mechanics created regarding information. The discussion of Schroedinger's Cat (a classic paradox about information and reality) is good, and the detailed treatment of quantum interference is definitely the strongest point of the book. It's also a good point to emphasize, because it feeds into subsequent discussions.

    Sadly, the discussion of the qubit doesn't illuminate the nature of this truly mysterious concept. I concede that this is a difficult concept to explain without the use of mathematics, but I think that a better job could have been done if the subject had been explained more slowly and thoroughly.

    In the author's defense, I note that tackling all this without a single equation is quite a feat. He does refer to logarithms, but otherwise he keeps the math out of the picture, most likely at the insistence of his editors. Explaining information concepts without mathematics is like playing a sport with one hand tied behind your back -- it's theoretically possible but impossible to do well.

    So, would I recommend this book? As always, it depends upon the audience. I would NOT recommend this book to anybody who is already familiar with the basics: Second Thermo, Uncertainty Principle, Shannon, and so forth. Its explanations of the modern concepts (black holes and information, qubits, information as a physical quantity) is inadequate to the needs of a prepared reader.

    I would, however, recommend this book to the beginner who knows nothing about information theory. If you've heard about this stuff and are curious about the foundations, this is one of the better books to start with. However, if you want to understand the concept of the qubit or how it might be used to build computers, this book won't help.
    16 people found this helpful
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  • Mrs A Alper
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2016
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Great
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  • Ubik
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Book
    Reviewed in Italy on February 5, 2016
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I have decided to buy this book after reading the review posted here by N N Taleb. I strongly recommend both this wonderful book and Mr. Taleb's works.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
    Reviewed in India on August 9, 2022
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Amazingly clear and well written. Links lot of concepts in a very intuit I've way.
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  • MR Charlie B
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    GREAT!
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