First published 2014
Vikram Chandra has spent decades working as both a novelist and a computer programmer. In his first nonfiction work, he examines how these two worlds connect. Chandra asks whether coders and writers share the same obsession with elegance and style. He investigates whether code can possess beauty in the same way literature does. The book moves through diverse territory, from logic gates to literary modernism, from the masculine culture of tech workers to the prominence of Indian professionals in Silicon Valley. Chandra also draws on the work of Abhinavagupta, an eleventh-century Kashmiri philosopher. The result combines literary essay, technology chronicle, and personal memoir. Chandra creates an unconventional history of programming while reflecting on the nature of writing itself. The book presents a collection of wide-ranging ideas about creativity, craft, and the intersection of ancient wisdom with modern innovation.
Genres: computers, non-fiction, computer-science, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: unconventional-history
Setting: Silicon Valley, Kashmir
Period: 11th-century
272 pages · Paperback · Graywolf Press