A mind at play
by Jimmy Soni, Rob Goodman · first published 2017
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Well-written biography of Claude Shannon that covers his childhood, his quirky inventions and his work on information theory, and explains entropy clearly. Suits anyone curious about the history of computing.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The life and times of one of the foremost intellects of the twentieth century: Claude Shannon--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 a fleet of customized unicycles and a flamethrowing trumpet, 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.' His discoveries would lead c
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I set a goal to read atleast 3 books a month, so this is my July list: - A mind at play: halfway through ,good read so far Shanon is a legend - The subtle Art of Not Giving a FK : Refreshingly good - Measure What Matters : Using this as a reference for everything now on, good read
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗Top five, summaries easy enough to find via Amazon: - Turings’s Cathedral - The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood - A Mind at Play - The Victorian Internet - Dawn of the New Everything Plus two that I haven’t read but hear amazing things: - Mindstorms - Dream Machine
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗If anyone wants more, I liked the recent biography: "A Mind at Play" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play The author is interviewed in the documentary.
on “Claude Shannon Documentatry, “Bit Player”, Released Today” ↗To whom is interested in history - "A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play is an excellent book. A good companion to this is The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great…
on “Turing and Wittgenstein on Logic and Mathematics [pdf]” ↗I enjoyed reading "A mind at Play", Soni and Goodman. There are several of these kind of stories with colleagues. I also like how the book goes into his childhood, including using electrified fence to communicate with his farm neighbors!
on “Understanding Shannon's Entropy metric for Information [pdf]” ↗Non-Fiction * A mind at play - Jimmy Soni, Rob Goodman * Show the work - Austin Kloen * The effective executive - Peter Drucker Fiction * The 7 and 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton Technical * On Lisp - Paul…
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗For an interesting cross section of technology and important moment(s) in history, I'd recommend A Mind at Play about Claude Shannon and his work: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play
on “Ask HN: Recommend a biography?” ↗…Personal Computer Industry - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/725789.What_the_Dormouse... Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34467030-troublemakers A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32919530-a-mind-at-play
on “Ask HN: What are good books on Computer History/Lore/Iconic figures in Computing” ↗A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age In this elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography, Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman reveal Claude Shannon’s full story for the first time. It’s the…
on “Joining Sun Microsystems – 40 years ago (2022)” ↗For more on Shannon, "A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age" is a recent book by the same authors (which I very much enjoyed).
on “Betty Shannon, Unsung Mathematical Genius” ↗I recently read the Shannon biography 'A Mind at Play' [0] which I guess is the full version of the article (same authors). It does (IMHO) a very good job at explaining entropy / information. [0] https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Mind-at-Play/Jimmy-...
on “How Claude Shannon Re-Invented Information (2017)” ↗I just recently finished the biography of Shannon called "A Mind at Play." It was quite a joy and I highly recommend to anyone interested in these sorts of bios.
on “A Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948) [pdf]” ↗I recommend reading "A Mind at Play", a biography about Shannon. I found it to be a decent read. Funnily enough, I knew about him more through the unicycling community than I did through computer science. It wasn't until a few years ago…
on “Claude Shannon: Tinkerer, Prankster, and Father of Information Theory (2016)” ↗Claude Shannon had quite the mind. "A Mind at Play" is a good book on Shannon's life and "The Bit Player" is a good partner movie to watch :) "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" and "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" paved the…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗I've started reading the book this is excerpted from: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age It's very well written.
on “How Information Got Re-Invented” ↗