When Information Came of Age: Technologies of Knowledge in the Age of Reason and Revolution, 1700-1850

by Daniel R. Headrick

Although the Information Age is often described as a new era, a cultural leap springing directly from the invention of modern computers, it is simply the latest step in a long cultural process. Its conceptual roots stretch back to the profound changes that occurred during the Age of Reason and Revolution. When Information Came of Age argues that the key to the present era lies in understanding the systems developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to gather, store, transform, display, and communicate information. The book provides a concise and readable survey of the many conceptual developments between 1700 and 1850 and draws connections to leading technologies of today. It documents three breakthroughs in information systems that date to the the classification and nomenclature of Linnaeus, the chemical system devised by Lavoisier, and the metric system. It shows how eighteenth-century political arithmeticians and demographers pioneered statistics and graphs as a means for presenting data succinctly and visually. It describes the transformation of cartography from art to science as it incorporated new methods for determining longitude at sea and new data on the measure the arc of the meridian on land. Finally, it looks at the early steps in codifying and transmitting information, including the development of dictionaries, the invention of semaphore telegraphs and naval flag signaling, and the conceptual changes in the use and purpose of postal services. When Information Came of Age shows that like the roots of democracy and industrialization, the foundations of the Information Age were built in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, History Of Science, Science, Technology

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

A specialist in the history of international relations, technology, and the environment, Daniel R. Headrick is professor emeritus of social science and history at Roosevelt University.

Reviews

[Rachel Smalter Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise that the information age started long before the Turing machine was invented in 1937... yet there is something utterly defensive in Headrick's argument, which is entrenched in his anglophilic idolization of Western Europe and the Enlightenment. How do you write about the history of the postal system and not spend more time discussing the Persians?

He insists that computers are not revolutionary but can only do faster what we already knew how to do. I would argue that scale, scope, and functional abstraction are completely revolutionary and what computers are all about, boo-yah!

[Peyton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this book for a college course. Though I agree with parts of his premise, I feel as though he discredits today's age as being different for the 18th and 19th century. We are in one of many information revolutions just as those in the Enlightenment were in an information revolution. No matter how you cut it, we have more information to deal with now than they did and we can access it much faster. So, yes Mr. Headrick, this is one of many Information Ages.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

nonfiction,history,library science