Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World
Written by Marc Eliot
Narrated by René Ruiz
5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Hello, world.
Facebook's algorithms shaping the news. Self-driving cars roaming the streets. Revolution on Twitter and romance on Tinder. We live in a world constructed of code — and coders are the ones who built it for us. From acclaimed tech writer Clive Thompson comes a brilliant anthropological reckoning with the most powerful tribe in the world today, computer programmers, in an audiobook that interrogates who they are, how they think, what qualifies as greatness in their world, and what should give us pause. They are the most quietly influential people on the planet, and Coders shines a light on their culture.
In pop culture and media, the people who create the code that rules our world are regularly portrayed in hackneyed, simplified terms, as ciphers in hoodies. Thompson goes far deeper, dramatizing the psychology of the invisible architects of the culture, exploring their passions and their values, as well as their messy history. In nuanced portraits, Coders takes us close to some of the great programmers of our time, including the creators of Facebook's News Feed, Instagram, Google's cutting-edge AI, and more. Speaking to everyone from revered "10X" elites to neophytes, back-end engineers, and front-end designers, Thompson explores the distinctive psychology of this vocation — which combines a love of logic, an obsession with efficiency, the joy of puzzle-solving, and a superhuman tolerance for mind-bending frustration.
Along the way, Coders thoughtfully ponders the morality and politics of code, including its implications for civic life and the economy. Programmers shape our everyday behavior: When they make something easy to do, we do more of it. When they make it hard or impossible, we do less of it. Thompson wrestles with the major controversies of our era, from the "disruption" fetish of Silicon Valley to the struggle for inclusion by marginalized groups.
In his accessible, erudite style, Thompson unpacks the surprising history of the field, beginning with the first coders — brilliant and pioneering women, who, despite crafting some of the earliest personal computers and programming languages, were later written out of history. Coders introduces modern crypto-hackers fighting for your privacy, AI engineers building eerie new forms of machine cognition, teenage girls losing sleep at 24/7 hackathons, and unemployed Kentucky coal-miners learning a new career.
At the same time, the audiobook deftly illustrates how programming has become a marvelous new art form — a source of delight and creativity, not merely danger. To get as close to his subject as possible, Thompson picks up the thread of his own long-abandoned coding skills as he reckons with what superb programming looks like.
To understand the world today, we need to understand code and its consequences. With Coders, Thompson gives a definitive look into the heart of the machine.
Marc Eliot
Marc Eliot is the New York Times bestselling author of more than two dozen books on popular culture, among them the highly acclaimed Cary Grant, the award-winning Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince, and American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood. His work has been published in more than twenty-five languages, and he writes for a number of publications and frequently speaks about film to universities and film groups, and on radio and television.
More audiobooks from Marc Eliot
Charlton Heston: Hollywood's Last Icon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Steve McQueen: A Biography Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5American Titan: Searching for John Wayne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reagan: The Hollywood Years Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Coders
Related audiobooks
Rise of the Machines: A Cybernetic History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Twittering Machine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMachines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come and Take It: The Gun Printer's Guide to Thinking Free Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Albion Or Oblivion? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Cash: The Unknown History of the Anarchists, Utopians, and Technologists Who Created Cryptocurrency Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Promise of Bitcoin: The Future of Money and How It Can Work for You Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Scientist in the City Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Average Joe: Be the Silicon Valley Tech Genius Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom 1960 to 2060 The History Of The Internet, Bits and Bobs, and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOut of the Ether: The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist That Almost Destroyed It All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present 3rd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Tech Tyrants: How Silicon Valley's Stealth Practices Addict Teens, Silence Speech and Steal Your Privacy Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArtificial Intelligence: From Medieval Robots to Neural Networks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mechanical March of Progress: How Robots Shaped Humanity's Destiny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntellectual Property: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) 2nd ed. Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTechno-Capitalism: The Rise of the New Robber Barons and the Fight for the Common Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Innovator's Cookbook: Essentials for Inventing What Is Next Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robots Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Computing: A Concise History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Monster: A Tough Love Letter On Taming the Machines that Rule our Jobs, Lives, and Future Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Industries For You
Burn Book: A Tech Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sam Walton: Made in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All The Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mind Your Mindset: The Science That Shows Success Starts with Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future: The Early Years: 2020-2023 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Pixar and Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secret Formula: The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known Brand in the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lego Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World’s Imagination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Setting the Table Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disney's Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Artpreneur: The Step-by-Step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living From Your Creativity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Presto!: How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Coders
16 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book that really explains the industry, as well as helps the reader gain a deeper knowledge of software development programs. I really enjoyed listening to the history of the field. Very captivating book. Recommended for anyone looking to get into coding or software development!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As someone who studied computer science but has become a little disallusioned by my job in the past few years, listening to this books was revitalizing and has me excited about driving back into things. It also touches on numerous of the issues we face as a society today due to the proliferation of code. Not only techies will enjoy this, I recommend everyone read it to gain a better understanding of this part of life today that is not going away.