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Product Details
Hardcover: 360 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (June 4, 2014)
Wright's <i>Changing the World</i> is a fascinating portrait of Paul Otlet, an information scientist (and man of letters and public intellectual) who was not only in the 1930s able to foresee the future and anticipate both the World Wide Web and Google search as well as add some additional elements that we haven't yet brought into the mainstream of information sharing, but he was able to actually build much of this with the elements that he had available at the time--index cards, microfiche, and the like. He was, like Google, concerned with the organization of the world's knowledge. In contrast to Google, he was deeply concerned about world peace, and his universal organization of knowledge (BTW, the Library of Congress system of classification is basically a spin-off of otlet's) was an integral part of a much larger vision of world piece--a vision that he shared with La Fontaine (who won the Nobel Peace Prize), Le Corbusier and others. He envisioned his palace of knowledge as part of a League of Nations, devoted to world peace. Wright tells the story of Otlet and his vision with compelling prose and insightful analysis and in the process gives Otlet his proper place in the development of knowledge. A terrific read.
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The desire to organize information seems innate, especially when you consider what lengths people have gone to do it. Alex Wright uncovers the life of one man who was passionate about capturing the world's knowledge in Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age.
Wright portrats Otlet as a librarian with a simple goal: to expand our use of the card catalog. His hope was that he could connect his home in Belgium to the rest of the world; however, his endeavor encompassed much more than this. This book also explores his creation of a Mundaneum, which was meant to hold everything that had ever been printed. His invention would allow "everyone from his armchair to contemplate creation" with images and text "projected on an individual screen." His dreams were big and so close to what has come to be. Unfortunately, he lost his greatest achievement to the Nazis in 1940 and died just four years later.
Cataloging the World is well-researched without feeling dry. Wright's style is easy to read and engaging, and his overarching idea about humanity's quest for wisdom is most intriguing. Compared to his first book, Glut: Mastering Information through the Ages, I find this one superior. With so little known about Otlet, this is an excellent resource that explores his character and shares the history of collecting knowledge.
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Kindle version is already available. Fascinating story of social scientist Otlet's attempt to gather all the world's information in one place. Well-written and compelling narrative brings Otlet, his world, and his struggles to life.
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