The Bit and the Pendulum; From Quantum Computing to M Theory--The New Physics of Information

New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2000. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Good/Very good. Lanny Provo (Jacket Photo). vi, 281. [1] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Glossary. Further Reading. Index. Inscribed by the author on fep. Compliments bookplate on fep. Ink notations inside cover and on fep (front and back). Some ink underling and notations to text noted. Tom Siegfried was editor in chief of Science News from 2007 to 2012, and he was the managing editor from 2014 to 2017. In addition to Science News, his work has appeared in Science, Nature, Astronomy, New Scientist and Smithsonian. Previously he was the science editor of The Dallas Morning News. He is the author of three books: The Bit and the Pendulum; Strange Matters; and A Beautiful Math. Tom earned an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University and has a master of arts with a major in journalism and a minor in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. His awards include the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism,and the AAAS Westinghouse Award. Derived from a Kirkus review: The computer has, in the information age, developed into a powerful metaphor for understanding the universe. In a straightforward, often whimsical exposition of new revelations in computer science, theoretical physics, molecular biology, and the developing science of consciousness, Many computer functions, Siegfried asserts, including the binary coding with which computers calculate and the manner in which computers produce outputs from inputs according to pre-programmed mathematical rules, find analogues in nature. Siegfried hurtles from cell analysis to Boolean logic to quantum mechanics to the theory of black holes to make his point. He contends, the computer has become such a powerful symbol for the universe that scientists are in danger of mistaking the metaphor for nature itself: The computer has become as all-encompassing a model as Newton's clock, Siegfried concludes, but it may be no better able to explain everything in nature.