Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents

Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents - Paperback

$19.00
$19.00
Skip to product information
Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents
  • Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents
Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents - Paperback

Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents - Paperback

by Ellen Ullman
$19.00
$19.00

Book Overview

by Ellen Ullman (Author), Jaron Lanier (Introduction by)

With a New Introduction by Jaron Lanier

A Salon Best Book of the Year

In 1997, the computer was still a relatively new tool---a sleek and unforgiving machine that was beyond the grasp of most users. With intimate and unflinching detail, software engineer Ellen Ullman examines the strange ecstasy of being at the forefront of the predominantly male technological revolution, and the difficulty of translating the inherent messiness of human life into artful and efficient code. Close to the Machine is an elegant and revelatory mediation on the dawn of the digital era.

Author Biography

Ellen Ullman is an American computer programmer and author. She has written novels as well as articles for various publications, including Harper's Magazine, Wired, The New York Times, and Salon. Her essays and novels analyze the human side of the world of computer programming. Ullman earned a bachelor's degree in English at Cornell University in the early 1970s. She then turned to business programming in the following years. She eventually began writing about her experiences as a programmer in 1995 when she wrote an essay titled "Out of Time: Reflections on the Programming Life." She lives in San Francisco.

Number of Pages: 208
Dimensions: 0.71 x 8.35 x 5.43 IN
Publication Date: February 28, 2012
ISBN9781250002488
Author Ellen Ullman
PublisherPicador USA
GenreBiography
FormatPaperback
PublishedFebruary 2012
LanguageENG- English
Pages208
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction

1% fer Each of the Seven Seas

Every purchase sends 7% of our profits to The Ocean Cleanup. No fine print, no opt-in — just how we sail.

Whoever Ye Be, Welcome Aboard

Queer lit, music, art, philosophy, fiction — stories for every kind of soul. Come as ye are, matey.

More by Ellen Ullman

By Blood

By Blood - Paperback

By Blood - Paperback

By Ellen Ullman

About Ellen Ullman

Ellen Ullman wrote her first computer program in 1978. She went on to have a twenty-year career as a programmer and software engineer. Her essays and books have become landmark works describing the social, emotional, and personal effects of technology. She is the author of two novels: By Blood, a New York TimesNotable Book; and The Bug, a runner-up for the Pen/Hemingway Award. Her memoir, Close to the Machine, about her life as a software engineer during the internet's first rise, became a cult classic. Her new book, Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology, tells a continuing story of the technical world as she experienced it while living in its midst for more than two decades. She is based in San Francisco.

You may also like