The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of Information is Revolutionizing Science [Hardcover]

Tom Siegfried (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0471321745 | ISBN-13: 978-0471321743 | Edition: 1

"Funny, clear, deep, and right on target. [Siegfried] lets us get a handle on ideas that are essential for understanding the evolving world."
-K. C. Cole, author of The Universe and the Teacup
"An eager, ambitious book. A stimulating, accessible introduction to scientific theory."
-Dallas Morning News
An award-winning journalist surveys the horizon of a new revolution in science
Everything in the universe, from the molecules in our bodies to the heart of a black hole, is made up of bits of information. This is the radical idea at the center of the new physics of information, and it is leading to exciting breakthroughs in a vast range of science, including the invention of a new kind of quantum computer, millions of times faster than any computer today. Acclaimed science writer Tom Siegfried offers a lively introduction to the leading scientists and ideas responsible for this exciting new scientific paradigm.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Information, for most of us, is an airy, abstract thing--the stuff of ideas, images, and symbols. But for Tom Siegfried and the scientists he writes about in The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of Information Is Revolutionizing Science, information has become something much more fundamental to the workings of the world. "Information is real," Siegfried explains. "Information is physical." What that means depends somewhat on the discipline it's applied to (cosmology, particle physics, computer science, cognitive theory, and molecular biology are among the fields examined here), but in general it comes down to the radically simple notion that the universe, at its deepest levels, is made not of matter and energy but of bits. Information is real, yes. But more to the point: reality, in some increasingly meaningful sense, is information.

So goes the argument anyway. And Siegfried, science editor of the Dallas Morning News, does a pretty good job of presenting it. His prose, admittedly, puts the flat in flat-footed, and his explanations of the relevant scientific phenomena (which include cool stuff like teleportation and quantum-mechanical computing) are sometimes murkier than they ought to be. But his knowledge of the last 10 years of theoretical research is sweeping, and he's especially deft with the tricky philosophy-of-science issues that pervade his topic. Have scientists really discovered, in information, the world's true foundation? Or have they simply found a handy new metaphor with which to think about the world? Siegfried wisely comes down on neither side of the question. For him, the power of metaphor is inseparable from the quest for scientific truth. And his book convincingly suggests that information, as a concept, will be generating deep scientific truths for years to come. --Julian Dibbell

From Library Journal

Siegfried, the science editor of the Dallas Morning News, presents the radical idea that information is not merely something abstract and intangible but that it is physical. He asserts that bits and bytes of information are the foundation of reality; in other words, "it from bit." He argues that everything in the universe, from the biology of living things to the cosmology of a black hole, is constructed of nothing more substantial than bits of information. Whether one agrees with this far-out concept or not, Siegfried weaves a provocative and convincing argument, supported by a plethora of scientific and mathematical research cited in numerous sources recommended for further reading. This is the new physics of information, and Siegfried says it is leading to major breakthroughs in a vast range of science such as teleportation and the development of "quantum computers" designed to decode the mysteries of DNA and human consciousness. Recommended for an informed audience.
-Joe J. Accardi, Northeastern Illinois Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471321745
• ISBN-13: 978-0471321743
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,417,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written and vague, October 29, 2002

By 

rob (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bit and the Pendulum: From Quantum Computing to M Theory-The New Physics of Information (Paperback)

I bought this book on the strength of the reviews here, which as it turns out are extremely misleading. Yes, this is a very interesting topic and I did learn a few things from the book. But I personally found this one of the most poorly written, vacuous books I have ever read. Siegfried has done a broad survey of how scientists have found it useful in various fields to conceive of things in terms of information. It is a promising project; the problem is that he has very little idea of how all this is connected. Worse, he barely explains any of the science. He doesn't even seem to understand it himself--at least when he discusses the areas I am familiar with his explanations are clearly off the mark--but assures us that it is all very important and technical. In lieu of explanation, he drops names, telling the reader over and over and over how he personally talked to so-and-so and they assured him something-or-other was true. In one particularly embarrassing moment, Siegfried actually prints a full page interview in which he asks one scientist several incoherent questions, to which the scientist replies (I'm not kidding), "I don't know how to answer that," suggests the questions are outside of his field, and says Siegfried has gotten his meaning wrong. There's not even enough in this passage to take notes on, yet Siegfried prints it verbatim. I don't mean to bash him--and I'm glad someone is taking an interest in this important topic--but I don't want others to be mislead by these other reviews.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A journalist is not a scientist., March 1, 2001

By 

Sumimus "sumimus" (Pacific Grove, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bit and the Pendulum: From Quantum Computing to M Theory-The New Physics of Information (Paperback)

When I read a review of this book in the New York Times, I thought this would be an interesting and informative presentation of the latest research in the field of quantum mechanics.

Unfortunatly it lacks depth in technical details and scientific description.

For example, the author seems to attribute to Murray Gell-Mann the notion of algorithmic complexity (p. 163): the complexity of a string of bits is measured by the shortest computer program capable of reproducing it. This is actually well known as the Kolmorov complexity. The author seems completly unaware of this. I remained largely eager to read somewhere else to learn more about the subject, since I could not find any precise description in that book.

This book can be taken as an apetizer, but do not expect good and reliable scientific description from it.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Excellent subject matter, better explained on the Internet, October 6, 2000

By 

Not a Clue (Redondo Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Bit and the Pendulum: How the New Physics of Information is Revolutionizing Science (Hardcover)

I knew absolutely nothing about quantum computing and initially found this book fascinating. But it left a couple of troubling questions. How could qubits do computations that are impossible with bits? How does one extract a solution from all the concurrent possibilities? So I did a search on qubits AND quantum AND information. I didn't look far enough to find a real algorithm, an answer to the second question, but immediately found an answer to the first. The answer is that they can -- if they work -- solve NP-hard problems in polynomial time; that is, they extend the power of computation in practive, but not in principle. Still no truth value for paradoxes, what a relief!

I am getting really annoyed with books by reporters, however knowledgeable, who waste pages obliquely describing equations and concepts that can easily be described clearly in a line or a couple of paragraphs. Does he really know what he is talking about? Whether or not the writer understands high school algebra, he certainly appears to assume that the reader does not. If you don't, you will have a hard time with this book anyway; if you do, you can learn more faster and free at your nearest friendly (i.e. not related to AOL) search engine.