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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 as 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.
Hans Christian von Baeyer is Chancellor
Professor of Physics at the College of William and Mary.
His essays in Discover, The Sciences, Reader's
Digest, and The Gettysburg Review have won several
awards, including the Science Journalism Award of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, and a National
Magazine Award. He is the author of, most recently, Warmth
Disperses and Time Passes.
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