I really enjoyed Story of Philosophy by Will Durant, which covers the following philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Spencer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Croce, Russell, Santayana, James, and Dewey.

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-Ph...

I thought "The Story of Philosophy" was a readable roundup (rigorous doesn't really come to mind) ... written in 1926 so the ancients through 19th century, no Wittgenstein ... but the fact that it's still in print tells you something.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Philosop...

Read this book by Will Durant : The Story of Philosophy. Considered a classic and one of the best introductions to philosophy See : http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-Phi...

I'm reading "The Information" right now.

Gleick's book takes a wide and multidisciplinary view of information. It traces our history through the lens of information and then turns to examine the cultural impact of Shannon's work. It's fascinating how the formalization of information just 60 years ago has so deeply impacted our world.

The prologue about Shannon's time at Bell Labs is an elegant, even beautiful, exposition of information theory's importance. As introductions go, I'd rank it up there with the introductions to Will Durant's "Story of Philosophy"[1] or Andrew Steane's "Quantum Computing" [2].

So far, at least, "The Information" hasn't dug into the technical details of information theory. That's probably fine and does not appear to be Gleick's intent.

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[1] http://www.amazon.com/Story-Philosophy-Opinions-Greatest-Phi...

[2] http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9708022