"Ever since it was first formulated a century and a half ago, the Second Law of thermodynamics (or "law of entropy increase") has had an air of mystery about it. Why is it true? Is it even always true? In this book, Stephen Wolfram builds on recent breakthroughs in the foundations of physics to finally provide a resolution to the mystery of the Second Law, elegantly showing how it emerges as a general feature of processes that can be described computationally, as well as their interplay with our computational characteristics as observers. For Wolfram, the effort to understand the Second Law has been a 50-year quest, beginning when he was 12 years old. In the book, Wolfram tells the story of this quest as well as traces the whole remarkable history of the Second Law. Written with great clarity and richly illustrated with both striking modern diagrams and extensive historical material, the book will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the foundations and origins of one of the most important and widely applied principles of modern science"--

This book of thoroughly engaging essays from one of today's most prodigious innovators provides a uniquely personal perspective on the lives and achievements of a selection of intriguing figures from the history of science and technology. Weaving together his immersive interest in people and history with insights gathered from his own experiences, Stephen Wolfram gives an ennobling look at some of the individuals whose ideas and creations have helped shape our world today. Contents includes biographical sketches of: Richard Feynman Kurt Godel Alan Turing John von Neumann George Boole Ada Lovelace Gottfried Leibniz Benoit Mandelbrot Steve Jobs Marvin Minsky Russell Towle Bertrand Russell Alfred Whitehead Richard Crandall Srinivasa Ramanujan Solomon Golomb