Overview

The ""information explosion"" may seem like an acutely modern phenomenon, but we are not the first generation-or even the first species-to wrestle with the problem of information overload. Long before the advent of computers, human beings were collecting, storing, and organizing information: from Ice Age taxonomies to Sumerian archives, Greek libraries to Dark Age monasteries. Spanning disciplines from evolutionary theory and cultural anthropology to the history of books, libraries, and computer science, Alex Wright weaves an intriguing narrative that connects such seemingly far-flung topics as insect colonies, Stone Age jewelry, medieval monasteries, Renaissance encyclopedias, early computer networks, and the Internet. Finally, he pulls these threads together to reach a surprising conclusion, suggesting that the future of the information age may lie deep in our past.

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9780801475092

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Reviews

<p> This is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand where we've been and where we're going. A lucid, exciting book full of flashes of surprise about how we've done it all before: prehistoric beads as networking aids, third-century random access systems, seventh-century Irish monastic bloggers, eleventh-century multimedia, sixteenth-century hypertext. I wish I'd written it! James Burke, author of American Connections: The Founding Fathers Networked

<p> We have no idea how to handle the upcoming explosion of information. I found Alex Wright's quick, clear history of past methods for managing oceans of information to be a handy clue to where we are going. He introduces you to an ecosystem of information organizations far more complex and interesting than the mere 'search' tool. -Kevin Kelly, author of Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World

Author Information

Alex Wright is a writer and information architect whose articles have appeared in publications including Salon, The Believer, The Christian Science Monitor, and Harvard Magazine. He has led information architecture projects for the New York Times, Harvard University, and the Long Now Foundation, among others. His Web site may be found at www.alexwright.org.

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