Chaos: Making a New Science (Viking 1987) “An awe-inspiring book. Reading it gave me that sensation that someone had just found the light switch.” —Douglas Adams “This is a stunning work, a deeply exciting subject in the hands of a first-rate science writer. The implications of the research James Gleick sets forth are breathtaking.” —Barry Lopez Enhanced e-book available...
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman (Pantheon 1992). A rare, jewel-like biography… terrifically readable. It achieves an almost perfect balance between the physicist’s work and his life. —Washington Post Book World Mesmerizing. A stimulating adventure in the annals of science. The New York Times A thorough and masterful portrait of one of the great minds of the century . ...
Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything (Pantheon 1999). “In years to come Faster will tell people what we were like as clearly as Dickens or Tom Wolfe.” —Patricia Volk, The New York Times.
Isaac Newton (Pantheon 2003). "A masterpiece of brevity and concentration. Isaac Newton sees its angular subject in the round, presenting him as scientist and magician, believer and heretic, monster and man.... It will surely stand as the definitive study for a very long time to come. Fortunate Newton!" —John Banville, The Guardian
“So ambitious, illuminating and sexily theoretical that it will amount to aspirational reading for many of those who have the mettle to tackle it. Don’t make the mistake of reading it quickly. Imagine luxuriating on a Wi-Fi-equipped desert island with Mr. Gleick’s book, a search engine and no distractions. The Information is to the nature, history and significance of data what the beach is...
[grey_box]This article first appeared 12 March 2000 in the New York Times Magazine. On March 2 the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Q. Todd Dickenson, called the editors and then the Times’ lawyers in an attempt to block publication. On March 9 (after the magazine had gone to press) Jeff Bezos, the chairman of Amazon.com, proposed that patents for software or business models expire...
[grey_box]First published in the New York Times Magazine, July 9, 1995[/grey_box] WHERE HUMAN ANATOMY meets data processing, there are just two important devices: the brain and the wristwatch. The brain is nice, but it doesn’t tell time very well. So, creatures of habit that we are, we strap on that extra thing—a machine worn every day by most adults in the industrialized world to display a...
[grey_box] First published in the New Republic, May 24, 1994. [/grey_box] [dropcap]In the world of professional wrestling, fans fall into two categories, known as the Smarts and the Marks. The Marks believe that they are watching spontaneous contests of strength and skill. The Smarts know that they are watching a fascinating, highly plotted, roughly scripted form of dramatic entertainment–a...