Mullane Literary Associates

The Ascent of Information by Caleb Scharf

Praise for Caleb Scharf’s The Ascent of Information

“Packed with provocative ideas, backed by wonderfully marshalled data, and entertaining on every page. Fascinating glimpses of what may turn out to be a new way to look at life.”

Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch

“A transformative new way of looking at our increasingly data-driven existence.”

Lee Billings, Scientific American

“Offers a bold new perspective on the relationship between humans and information…as a motivating force in humans’ lives…Scharf’s provocative thesis is sure to shake things up for readers with an interest in humans’ relationship to data.”

Publishers Weekly

“A fascinating study of information and its types.”

Library Journal, STARRED review

“Masterfully weaving together anecdotes and thought experiments from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, theoretical physics, astrobiology, and information theory, Scharf investigates how our relationship with the dataome has fundamentally altered our lives and how it will continue to do so.”

Science

“Scharf provides a fascinating history of information theory.”

Booklist

“Information is a way for one part of the universe to know something about another. What could be more profound than that? In this engaging and wide-ranging book, Caleb Scharf shows how information brings the world to life, both figuratively and literally.”

Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden:
Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime

About the Author

Caleb Scharf is the director of the Astrobiology Center at Columbia University and has written for New Scientist, Science, National Geographic, Scientific American, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Nature, among other publications. He has been a keynote speaker at the American Museum of Natural History and the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, and has served as a consultant for the Discovery Channel, the Science Channel, The New York Times, and others. He is the author of Extrasolar Planets and Astrobiology, winner of the 2012 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award from the American Astronomical Society, and the Guardian has cited Life, Unbounded as one of the “hottest science blogs,” while Seed calls it “phenomenal, informed, fresh, and thoughtful.”

Follow Caleb Scharf on  Twitter.