
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...

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...