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

Although the Information Age is often described as a new era, a cultural leap springing directly from the invention of modern computers, it is in fact 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 period: the classification and nomenclature of Linneaus, the chemical system devised by Lavoisier, and the metric system. It includes discussions of pioneering work in cartography, the graphical representation of information, and the first steps in codifying and transmitting data.

When Information Came of Age shows that like the roots of democracy and industrialization, the Information Age is deeply a product of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.