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.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Follow the authors
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Similar items that may ship from close to you
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Reviews with images
The authors put great effort into researching Shannon
The authors put great effort into researching Shannon, and the work shows. I appreciated their attempts to grapple with his theories, and to translate them for lay readers (though I do wish they'd delved more into Shannon's key ideas, esoteric as they may be). Solid prose, too. As a last note, I confirmed the author's claim about Shannon's gravestone (proof attached).
Top reviews from other countries
Tito Spadini
O livro sobre o Pai da Teoria da Informação
Reviewed in Brazil on December 1, 2023
