Reading this book portrayed Claud Shannon as a lifelong learner, thinker, tinkerer and builder. He is not necessarily the most innovate Engineer of the 20th century, but is one of the most underrated ones. With work ranging across many different fields including information technology, genetics, electrical engineering, boolean algebra, cryptography, juggling, and more, he is the epitome of a modern polymath. Though he received a lot of fame and recognition in the academic world, he is little known by the non-academic engineering community or mainstream media.
Overall the book was full of interesting content, but lost my interest at certain points. I really liked learning about Shannonās early life and history, but started losing track of what was going on when dozens of related names and events were being mentioned. Perhaps this resonates with Shannonās life who continuously jumped from one project to another. I found the first and last thirds of the book most captivating, which corresponded to the start of Shannonās career, as well as his retirement life.
Below are a few of my favorite takeaways from the book
Shannonās Work
One of his most admirable traits is being able to make connections between many different fields.
Though he liked to work independently, there were many people who helped and guided him along the way. He would not have been able to achieve what he had if others hadnāt believed in him.
In his published work on genetics, he presented research as his own discovery even though it has already been known for a couple years. It is impressive that he single-handedly reproduced existing research within a year of entering a new field, but it also goes to show how important foundational education is.
Alongside other mathematicians, he tried to work faster during the war in the hope that it would end the war faster.
He fascination with Juggling during retirement fascinated me.
Shannonās friends
He was friends with many notable individuals in the fields of physics and computing including John von Neumann, Alan Turing and many others. Itās astounding how a few dozen individuals in the mid 20th century shaped the whole scientific and computing world as we know it today.
He talked to Alan Turing quite a bit, but supposedly they never discussed cryptography.
He played chess with Garry Kasparov once. Over the years Kasparov has had to play with many amateurs, and has grown accustomed to doing so due to his fame. Most of the time he does so out of necessity, does not pay too much attention to the game, and wins within a dozen moves or so. However, in his match with Shannon, Kasparov had to concentrate, had to take the game seriously, and took 2-3 times as many moves as usual in order to win.
Shannon was noted as a friendly individual but got frustrated and bored really easily. People who couldnāt keep up with his ideas or train of thought simply didnāt interest him. For some reason, I admire this trait.
Earlier this year I read Edward Thorpeās book “A Man For All Markets”. I drew a lot of similarities between these two individuals in terms of their education, life journey and passions. I was very enthused when i found out that Claude Shannon was the person who Edward Thorpe worked with when developing his wearable technology to game the roulette. Iām sure these two men were great friends.
Bell Labs
Shannon spent a lot of time and did a lot of important work during his time at Bell Labs. This book really made me respect the companyās mission and how it was managed over the years.
During the second world war, Bell labs grew from 4600 to over 9000 individuals.
Bell Labs was known to never pay its employees for the work they were doing, but rather pay them for the work they will do or the work they have done.
When considering a transition from Bell Labs to MIT, Shannon was offered a higher salary. Though he chose to reject the offer, Bell Labs kept paying him for his role in perpetuity. I canāt think of any company today that would do the same.