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I was surprised at the recent surge in articles about Claude Shannon. Taking a closer look, I can see a brilliant case of how good marketing works. Most of thes

I was surprised at the recent surge in articles about Claude Shannon. Taking a closer look, I can see a brilliant case of how good marketing works. Most of these articles have been written by same authors who wrote the biography of Claude Shannon. Although, he is a respected figure but his reverence—or, better say, popularity—is nowhere near a famous businessman like Steve Jobs. These articles work as a trigger to get interested in Claude Shannon and then, the book itself. And I am sure it's working. I am almost tempted to buy the book. Like many people, I certainly detest many marketing tactics but this is an example of one that has been done right and is even helpful.

meri_dian 9y ago
I learned about Shannon about a year and a half ago. Very impressive figure, but it was clear that he wasn't in the popular consciousness at all. I have noticed a significant increase in the number of things being put out about him and had been wondering why. I'm not surprised a concerted effort is behind it. We're all the better for learning about him though so I welcome it.
noir_lord 9y ago
It's hard to be involved with programming for a long period of time and not run into Shannon, he is one of the foundational people in who worked on the theories underpinning modern computers and telecommunications. Another is Dijkstra, In fact it's not overstating the case to say that Dijkstra's algorithmn (and it's descendants) and the Shannon limit are two fundamentals to the way the internet works.
SamReidHughes 9y ago
Also, I got an email because at one point I had tweeted about Shannon: Dear Sam, I hope this note finds you well. I noticed that you had tweeted in the past about James Gleick's book "The Information." As it happens, that book inspired a book I've just finished: the first-ever full length biography of the late Bell Labs engineer Claude Shannon. The book was recently published by Simon & Schuster. I figured I would reach out, given your interest in Bell Labs. We were fortunate to have worked with Alice Mayhew, the editor behind A Beautiful Mind, Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs, and other books in that genre. I think you'll enjoy the book and hope you get a chance to check it out! Jimmy -- -- My new book, A Mind At Play (Simon & Schuster), is available now. It's the story of Claude Shannon, one of the founders of the information revolution—and one of the reasons we can exchange these emails.
euyyn 9y ago
Causation could perfectly be the other way around: Some people write a book about Shannon, and thus get asked by publishers to write articles about him for them. Plus you wouldn't expect the authors of articles about someone to be people that know little about that person.

meri_dian 9y ago

I learned about Shannon about a year and a half ago. Very impressive figure, but it was clear that he wasn't in the popular consciousness at all. I have noticed a significant increase in the number of things being put out about him and had been wondering why. I'm not surprised a concerted effort is behind it. We're all the better for learning about him though so I welcome it.

noir_lord 9y ago

It's hard to be involved with programming for a long period of time and not run into Shannon, he is one of the foundational people in who worked on the theories underpinning modern computers and telecommunications. Another is Dijkstra, In fact it's not overstating the case to say that Dijkstra's algorithmn (and it's descendants) and the Shannon limit are two fundamentals to the way the internet works.

SamReidHughes 9y ago

Also, I got an email because at one point I had tweeted about Shannon: Dear Sam, I hope this note finds you well. I noticed that you had tweeted in the past about James Gleick's book "The Information." As it happens, that book inspired a book I've just finished: the first-ever full length biography of the late Bell Labs engineer Claude Shannon. The book was recently published by Simon & Schuster. I figured I would reach out, given your interest in Bell Labs. We were fortunate to have worked with Alice Mayhew, the editor behind A Beautiful Mind, Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs, and other books in that genre. I think you'll enjoy the book and hope you get a chance to check it out! Jimmy -- -- My new book, A Mind At Play (Simon & Schuster), is available now. It's the story of Claude Shannon, one of the founders of the information revolution—and one of the reasons we can exchange these emails.

euyyn 9y ago

Causation could perfectly be the other way around: Some people write a book about Shannon, and thus get asked by publishers to write articles about him for them. Plus you wouldn't expect the authors of articles about someone to be people that know little about that person.