Gleick very effectively conveys the science, the excitement the early scientists working on it felt, and the challenges that faced them. The dynamics seem so basic—shapes changing in space and time—yet only now are the tools available to understand them. But he exaggerates the importance of these topics, presenting them as a holistic revolution in physics, overthrowing reductionism, which just isn't the case. That is an interesting concept, but it actually has little to do with "information" as treated in the rest of the book: alphabets, calculators, cyphers, telegraphs, genes, Wikipedia articles. I believe if a person is really going to like this book, it will be as an exuberant, unregimented romp through the jungle that is information.

From Edward Lorenz’s discovery of the Butterfly Effect, to Mitchell Feigenbaum’s calculation of a universal constant, to Benoit Mandelbrot’s concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, Gleick’s engaging narrative focuses on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science.For example, in his treatment of thermodynamic information, he equivocates on what Maxwell's Demon is or isn't, and whether it exists or doesn't. The book could have benefited from a lecture style presentation, with clear chapter introductions and summaries, so that I could see how it all fit together, not to mention what year he was currently talking about.

James Gleick (born August 1, 1954) is an American author, journalist, and biographer, whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and technology. But unpredictability was not the reason physicists and mathematicians began taking pendulums seriously again in the sixties and seventies.I see the poetry of constant motion and evolution everywhere and I can feel the science of Chaos intuitively as I take my long walks. Pattern formation has become a branch of physics and of materials science, allowing scientists to model the aggregation of particles into clusters, the fractured spread of electrical discharges, and the growth of crystals in ice and metal alloys. Confronted with a nonlinear system, scientists would have to substitute linear approximations or find some other uncertain backdoor approach.