"Charles Seife explains how information theory, once the province of codebreakers and telephone companies, became the crucial science of our time. Starting with the breaking of the Enigma code during World War II and building momentum during the computer revolution, information theory is now at the forefront of theoretical physics. Seife highlights the surprises revealed when we start decoding information: that the universe is half spent; that the entire human race has less genetic diversity than the average group of two dozen chimpanzees; that the act of living itself can be seen as the act of replicating and preserving information despite nature's attempt to destroy it. We meet up with some of the towering figures of modern science, as well as a few strange beasts - Schrodinger's cat and Maxwell's demon."--BOOK JACKET.