I’m very happy to share with you this conversation I had with my two very good friends, Jimmy Soni (✍️) and David Senra (🎙📚).
We got together for a very special occasion. To talk about this man:
Claude Shannon was both a genius and a very authentic human being, and I think more people should learn from him — understanding his masterwork, Information Theory, helps to understand the digital world, but I also strongly believe that reading about how he lived his life can help steer us to a deeper, more satisfying life for ourselves.
Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman wrote an excellent biography of Shannon, and this book is the starting point for today’s episode.
But in our usual fashion, we don’t stop there and make all kinds of connections to all kinds of other things and people (Ed Thorp, Henry Singleton, Warren Buffett, Vannevar Bush, Dee Hock, Benjamin Franklin, John von Neumann, Alan Turing, Albert Einstein, etc).
🎧 Listen on Spotify
If you prefer to listen on Spotify, here’s the feed:
🎧 Listen on Apple Podcasts
Here’s the podcast feed on Apple Podcasts:
📺 Watch on YouTube
📃 Full transcript
The book is so good that you should immediately buy it here. But we also want to get you a very special signed copy so that you can give your other copy to a friend:
🚨 Book Giveaway: 15 Signed Copies of ‘A Mind at Play’ 📚
Here is your chance to get a very special signed copy of Shannon’s bio.
Thanks to Jimmy, we’re going to give 15 signed copies to paid supporters of this newsletter. 📖 🎁
Here are the instructions to participate:
If you’re a paid supporter of the newsletter and are interested, fill out this simple form. Do this before December 16th, 2022, at 11:59 PM EST. 🗓 That’s it.
I’ll compile a list of participants, and on December 19th I’ll draw names out of a hat, or buy one of those bingo machines with the balls bouncing around, or use randomizing software, whatever, and pick 15 winners. If you win, I’ll email you to ask for your mailing address.
If you’re NOT a paid supporter yet, but would like to become one before the 16th, no problem, you can participate. Hit the subscribe button, and then fill out the form before Dec 16, 2022. This will give you all the other perks of being a supporter — 2x additional Editions per week + access to the private Discord.
Not everyone who is eligible will participate, so if you do, your odds of winning a signed copy of this great book are pretty high! Do it!
Shannon’s Ultimate Machine 🤔
How much fun was he having coming up with this concept and then building it? Ha!
Here are the design notes from this version.
The Differential Analyzer analog computer 🧮
Above is a photo of what an analog computer was like before the digital revolution.
Here is the two co-authors talking about Shannon and the writing process at Google.
🎙 More from David Senra
And of course, go subscribe to Founders Podcast in your podcasting app of choice (it’s Overcast, right?)
🎙More from Jimmy Soni
Make sure to also read Jimmy’s most recent book: The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
💚 🥃 Enjoyed this? Want more? 👇
If you enjoyed this and would like more, you can become a paid supporter to get 2x extra editions/week + access to the private Discord + support the recording of more podcasts:
Claude Shannon fan club with Jimmy Soni and David Senra 📖