Overview

A brilliant foray into the nature of information, of history, and of making meaning in the face of death and decay. Our lives are collections of information--from mundane official documents, poignant family photos, and random artifacts to the cues embodied in our genes. Never is this more evident than in the wake of a parent's death. Yet from all these elusive, even evanescent, data points, history is written and a future is made. This information is stored on clay tablets and wood pulp; in vinyl grooves, compact discs, and magnetic patterns; and relayed over undersea cables and satellite cell networks. But all information decays. Everything that we put ""in formation"" eventually collapses into randomness. In this wide-ranging examination of the micro and macro, world-renowned scholar Thomas S. Mullaney reflects on the deaths of his parents, and on how human lives ""disappear."" Lyrical and poignant, his erudite, inspiring meditation offers eye-opening insight on the miracle of existence, and on what it means to forge meaning from a chaotic universe.

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Thomas S. Mullaney is an award-winning Stanford historian, Guggenheim fellow, and former Kluge Chair in Technology and Society at the Library of Congress. He is the author of four books on Chinese history and technology and lives in Palo Alto, California. With a career spanning Broadway, off-Broadway, and television, James D. Sasser is an award-winning writer, director, producer, and narrator. A classically trained singer and actor, he studied voice at Manhattan School of Music, acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and playwriting at NYU-Tisch GMTWP. Work for the stage has ranged from roles such as Sweeney Todd, Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar, even being a singer for Riverdance on Broadway, and recent television appearances include Succession, Madam Secretary, and more. His voice can be heard in dozens of audiobooks and hundreds of commercials, where he's often a detective, a drawling gunslinger, or a swashbuckling bodice ripper, and often British. Recent titles include the fantasy YA Witches, Boys, And Other Monsters by Gail Blue and the Penguin history Gay Berlin by Robert Beachey. He is the voice of several audiobook hit series, including the Larry Macklin Mysteries by AE Howe and the Anderson Chronicles by Kit Karson, and recently, the new narrator for the critically acclaimed military action Axel Blaze Thrillers by Bill Runner. An accent specialist, James was born in Japan, grew up in Germany and the UK, and has lived in Northern California wine country, London, and Seattle. He's an avid gardener and green space advocate, and no matter where he's worked and traveled, always comes home to NYC.

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