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.

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.

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.

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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.

I enjoyed reading “A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age,” by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman. Shannon was one of the great American scientists and mathematicians and deserves tremendous praise for his ideas that underlie the Computer Age.

What I found most appealing about the book was the mixture of Shannon’s life in historical context with technical knowledge about information theory. The book interweaves Shannon’s early learning on electrical switches and wires at Bell labs with his later development of information theory. I found this conjunction between Shannon’s practical hands-on tinkering and the abstract mathematical work, for which he is famous, quite interesting and inspirational in terms of developing mathematical ideas.

The book also makes clear how much Shannon was impacted by his early training. Shannon benefited greatly from his initial experiences at MIT and his mentorship by the great scientific administrator Vannevar Bush. In a sense, Shannon embodied many of MIT’s characteristics when he returned to the institution. It is also interesting that while Shannon is famous for his work in communication theory, the substance of his PhD was actually related to genetics. Only now, many years later, do people realize the connection between genomics and information theory.

Overall, I found this book to be a great read that I would highly recommend to people interested in mathematical sciences and American scientists in general.

A delightful book, which although being a biography of a scientist, does not focus on convoluted technicalities involved in his work, but rather on the origin of thoughts and work in his character. Shannon's life has been analysed in a very detailed way, paying great attention to his feelings, views, and motivations related to his work. That being said, this biography indicates Shannon's place not only on the scientific map but also on a more philosophical one, trying to catch the very essence of his urge to create, which happened to be curiosity in its purest form.

One of my critiques of the technology industry is that there's not a rich body of work around the intellectual history of the space. This is starting to change, and this book by Soni and Goodman is an important addition. Shannon's a fascinating character and his personality comes through with various episodes, many concerning his family. Those are glimpses into his life that we've never had before, in fact, my general awareness of Shannon has transformed into specific knowledge - and it's compelling reading.

The book seamlessly tells two stories - that of Shannon's work and of Shannon's life. There are obviously tradeoffs - this is not a technical treatise nor pure storytelling. It is a meticulously researched mix and it's a better book for that combination.

The authors do us a service in taking both the man and his family as seriously as his work, I think. There's a lot to learn from his contributions to information theory. These areas are covered in a manner that makes it easy to consume. There's a lot to learn from his life. These areas are delivered in a manner that makes it easy to relate.

Although it explores most sides of Shannon's life, it leaves a lot to be wanted as the book is organized by theme instead of time. Additionally, it seems that all the author's information have come from public records and not from talking to the people close to Shannon.

This man, Claude Shannon, defined the theory through which the entire world works. He was the first to suggest that any analog signal could be evaluated in a binary format. Learning about his growth, and how he discovered these ideals in a non-binary world is absolutely fascinating. Even Norbert Wiener, who is given credit for cybernetics, couldn't make the conceptual leap that this man did.

Interesting. A bit dense, but gives you an insight of how (and when) information theory started.

La copia che ho ricevuto era fallata e l'ho mandata indietro. Dovrebbe essere un bellissimo libro ma non l'ho ancora letto.

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.

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.

Shannon was to say the least eccentric not the average inventor hero, though he was well lauded in his time. The book is very basic on the technicalities of Information Theory and would not be a a good primer in that respect. It's a description, the obtainable facts, of his public life. He was such a singular man that it would be impossible to get deep into his psyche or psychology, though there are some reasonable inferences. The book presents Shannon's considerable achievement of pulling all the technical strands together to enable modern virtual life.