Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Glut: Mastering Information Through The Ages
by
Alex Wright (Goodreads Author)
What do primordial bacteria, medieval alchemists, and the World Wide Web have to do with each other? This fascinating exploration of how information systems emerge takes readers on a provocative journey through the history of the information age.
Today's "information explosion" may seem like an acutely modern phenomenon, but we are not the first generation--nor even the fi...more
Today's "information explosion" may seem like an acutely modern phenomenon, but we are not the first generation--nor even the fi...more
Hardcover, 286 pages
Published
June 1st 2007
by Joseph Henry Press
(first published January 1st 2007)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
594)
The beginning of this book disappointed me, the author discusses the Mastering of Information starting from single celled organisms evolving genetic coping mechanisms for an increasing amount of information. He uses this starting point to stroll into an epigenetic rationale for human's predisposition for hierarchical solutions to information overload problems. I don't buy it. Alex is definitely not a biologist (I used to be if that amounts to anything) and his intellectual weakness is demonstrat...more
I don't think I can continue reading this because it frustrates me every few pages. Admittedly, I've only read the preface and part of the first chapter, but I can't believe how casually the author mentions, in that brief book span, that human characteristics like our drive to categorize and classify are "probably" epigenetic. This seems irresponsible and feels like cherry-picking data.
In the span of three dozen pages, the epigenome is never explained but is credited with carrying universal huma...more
In the span of three dozen pages, the epigenome is never explained but is credited with carrying universal huma...more
This is a well-written text about a subject that is difficult, if not impossible, to tackle in one, short book. As an introduction to the history of information, I think it's wonderful. It's fodder for more reading and thought-provoking. As someone who is beginning to think about "information" from an anthropological sense, I found Wright's overview very helpful.
However, that being said, I can see how someone with more knowledge might be frustrated with the glossing of entire centuries of histo...more
However, that being said, I can see how someone with more knowledge might be frustrated with the glossing of entire centuries of histo...more
okay, i will admit it, i skimmed this book... maybe if i had come to i before reading many of the sources he uses i would have remained more engaged... it IS a good book, i just happened to come to it from the ground up... i think it is a great primer on oral versus digital culture, the ideas about information dissemination (via ancient information systems, scrolls, manuscripts, libraries, the internet)... and how all these things really are forms of "networks" (but from long ago) that work in c...more
Alex Wright presents selections from the history of information to show how people throughout recorded (and, for that matter, pre-historic) time dealt with their need to organize and communicate information. Utilizing a simple definition of information, that "Information is the juxtaposition of data to create meaning," (p 10) Wright finds evidence of a need for human organization of information from our very beginnings. I had never thought of the development of symbolic representation itself, in...more
I heard and saw Alex Wright's LongNow lecture (online) about the glut of data (I would not quite call it information).
The single most important thing/person this book exposes is Paul Otlet: who predated (his death) Bush's Memex (Atlantic article) by over a decade) with ideas which almost perfectly mimic Memex.
I recently, in advising another author, had Otlet mentioned back to me. And that refreshed my memory of this event.
The historic illustrations make this a better than average book about data...more
The single most important thing/person this book exposes is Paul Otlet: who predated (his death) Bush's Memex (Atlantic article) by over a decade) with ideas which almost perfectly mimic Memex.
I recently, in advising another author, had Otlet mentioned back to me. And that refreshed my memory of this event.
The historic illustrations make this a better than average book about data...more
Libro bellissimo che analizza l'evoluzione dei modi in cui l'uomo, dalla preistoria ad oggi, ha affrontato il concetto di "informazione", dai quipu al web, passando per la biblioteca d'Alessandria e la CDD. Originale ma efficace la scelta di adoperare trasversalmente termini e concetti moderni per i fenomeni antichi: social network, interfaccia, ipertesto, ecc.
Ogni tanto appaiono qualche lacuna o qualche superficialità che, a causa della mia ignoranza, non so come interpretare: per esempio, perc...more
Ogni tanto appaiono qualche lacuna o qualche superficialità che, a causa della mia ignoranza, non so come interpretare: per esempio, perc...more
Sep 02, 2010
Wendy White
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
information architects, information scientists, historians, internet scientists, archivists
Shelves:
top-100
A book that utterly surprised me with its relevance to everything I am interested in. Cuts straight to the core of information sharing and how our recording and communicating devices have shaped our development from cave paintings to photo sharing websites.
I expected this book to mostly talk about modern information sharing, but it in fact pays an equal amount of attention to every era of human communication. I don't often get excited talking about history (unless we're talking mythology) and so...more
I expected this book to mostly talk about modern information sharing, but it in fact pays an equal amount of attention to every era of human communication. I don't often get excited talking about history (unless we're talking mythology) and so...more
Glut started off with great promise discussing the history of classification and the rise of the written record, however it is perhaps a bit too ambitious for the 286 pages to fulfill the desires I had for it. I was looking for a balanced walk through the landscape from beads to scroll to scribe to today. I wanted to understand the technologies that lead to scroll and book and classification systems. There are areas where Wright did a detailed review of these, I found the chapter on "Illuminatin...more
This book gives an interesting history not only of libraries and how they came to be as they are today (starting with the libraries of the Hittites), and how many were built to amazing proportions only to be destroyed when their societies fell, but also of language, alphabets, printing and publishing.
Granted, I probably wouldn't have picked it up were it not assigned in one of my classes, but I really did enjoy it.
Granted, I probably wouldn't have picked it up were it not assigned in one of my classes, but I really did enjoy it.
Wright presents an interesting narrative, blending ideas from a range of disciplines. On the one hand, it's a smooth overview of the development of information management -- mainly from a library science viewpoint. On the other hand, some nicely evocative connections to spur further thought. Organized chronologically, the book seems weakest in regard to modern and future trends.
a pretty accessible history of information management. wright discusses the dialectic between hierarchies and networks as the fundamental principle which has given rise to information architectures over the ages: from preliterate societies who embody their knowledge in their physical and social arrangements, to our world wide web.
if a few years ago someone told me that i would enjoy a book chapter on universal decimal classification, i wouldn't have believed it. yet, it would have been true.
i j...more
if a few years ago someone told me that i would enjoy a book chapter on universal decimal classification, i wouldn't have believed it. yet, it would have been true.
i j...more
A wonderful tour of the ways humans have sought to organize and impart knowledge and information. Wright tackles the disciplines of psychology, cultural anthropology and computer science, even illuminating by examples from evolutionary biology, how natural and necessary it is for us to sort, classify and categorize the world around us. He maintains that there is nothing new in the tension between hierarchical systems and social networks, and that this tension can be viewed as complementary rathe...more
Really interesting stuff - if you're an information geek, that is. Although the first couple chapters are pretty obtuse, I love the breadth and scope he tackles, and the way he shows networks and hierarchies intersecting and tangling through time (which is why you need to read the first 2 chapters). Once he gets through the philosophy and settles into history, his writing moves right along. Great food for thought for those of us trying to "un-silo" library data and technologies. His discussion o...more
I had to read this for a class and really enjoyed it. It kept getting better and better, and the last chapter really ties it all together. This is basically a history of the world centered around technology and human progress. I learned a lot, and have recently discovered that the information gleaned makes for interesting conversation starters with near strangers.
Jan 26, 2011
Hunter Johnson
added it
Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages by Alex Wright. Not quite what I was expecting, this book looks at information management through an academic anthropology & history lens. Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Glut details the history of information architecture covering inventions that have revolutionized societies throughout time. Although somewhat dry in parts, this is an important read for anyone interested in the history or future of information.
May 02, 2013
Nancy Mackay
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
my library school students or anyone interested in the humanities
Shelves:
slis-202
This is an excellent introduction and background for information science studies. Alex Wright looks at the evolution of information science from a historical and cultural perspective.
It's certainly an uneven book, at least in my experience: the looks at information technology in the preliterate age and the growth and development of the book and the library were fascinating and easy to navigate, but when the topic became more about networked information and computers I was struggling to get through the jargon. But it's a very well-organized and interesting look at how humans develop technology and technology guides humanity, and for that it earns a decent rating. However: I h...more
Glut started as a very interesting read looking the history or memory and how peoples brains appeared wired for particular hierarchical structures. The continued discussion into classification schemes and the difficulties associated with them was very interesting. For me the 20th century and beyond period was very light on and while it promised to explore what might be possible with new thinking and technology in terms of dealing with information overload it did not deliver. This area of the boo...more
Just read first two chapters, since that is all the interested me.
Sounds good. Didn't happen.
Sep 22, 2009
Laurie Riley
added it
Another book for my grad school class. Cuts into my personal reading time. LOL
Read it for a class. Read about the first two chapters, but this guy uses too much jargon and is so dry! So I ended up skimming the rest of it!
I like historical surveys of information theory, consumption, display, transmission...This is one of those. I'm enjoying the depth of the anecdotes from the past - illiterate Irish monks illuminating sacred works, the great library of Alexandria, etc. - but I wish the book had been edited more rigorously. Because I work as an information architect, I appreciate the parallels to the "career" of scribes.
The beginning is the weakest part of this book. Once you make it pass the first couple of chapters or so, the book does get better. It is a fair introduction of the beginning of information systems. Too much of what Wright says however, comes off too casual (more journalistic than educated or academic). I would recommend this book as an introduction and jumping off point to other more informed sources.
yummy stuff. the history of the language, the printing press, books, the internet and information retrieval all in one book. read it even if you aren't going to library school!
Feb 01, 2008
Corey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
library science people, geeks, historians
Anything James Burke says he wishes he wrote is worth checking out in my opinion.
A history of library sciences, but also of how we organize information generally- not just cultural history, but in our basic brain structure, cross-culturally. How information has been found, lost and given lesser or greater significance during the centuries.
Fascinating.
A history of library sciences, but also of how we organize information generally- not just cultural history, but in our basic brain structure, cross-culturally. How information has been found, lost and given lesser or greater significance during the centuries.
Fascinating.
Intense, but v. readable book about the history of information systems. I was hooked at the intro. The author gives the standard scholarly "lots of people helped me--but all the errors are my own" admission, and then: "And perhaps I can take solace in knowing that even Linnaeus, the father of modern biology, was a devout believer in unicorns."
This is mostly a history book. The applications we can derive from history are clear. This book is several years old; many of these ideas are already appearing in eBooks and search engines. Still, it's good to get a historical perspective on information management, so that we don't reinvent the wheel, or reinvent poorly.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Alex Wright is a writer and information architect who lives and works in New York City. His first book, Glut: Mastering Information Through the Ages, was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "a penetrating and highly entertaining meditation on our information age and its historical roots."
Alex's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Believer, Harva...more
More about Alex Wright...
Alex's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Believer, Harva...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Mar 28, 2011 11:32am