Grammatical Man

Just as physics made sense out of the mysteries of earth, air, fire, and water, it can be said that the science of information enriches and unifies an amazing diversity of modern sciences, from physics and mathematics to biology and linguistics. Because symbols, messages, and codes are the stuff not only of computers and telecommunications, but also of living organisms and the forms of human knowledge, information, and thus information theory, is universal. This is the first book to tell the story of information theory, how it arose with the development of radar during World War II, and how it evolved. This thought-provoking book describes how the laws and discoveries of information theory support controversial revisions to Darwinian evolution, begin to unravel the mysteries of language, memory and dreams, and stimulate provocative ideas in psychology, philosophy, art, music, computers, and even the structure of society. The insights of information theory make us look at our world in an entirely new and different way--but perhaps its most fascinating and unexpected surprise is the suggestion that order and complexity may be as natural as disorder and disorganization.--From publisher description.