Bitwise: A Life in Code

"A hybrid of memoir, technical primer and social history . . . [Auerbach] suggests that we need to be bitwise (i.e. understand the world through the lens of computers) as well as worldwise . . . We need guides on this journey--judicious, balanced and knowledgeable commentators, like Auerbach." --The New York Times Book Review

"[A] fun and informative memoir of a life in coding explains what makes coding deeply fascinating, and is tamped full, like a scientist's experiment in sphere-packing, of history, fact, and anecdote." --Popular Mechanics, Best Sci/Tech Books of the Year

"A valuable resource for readers seeking to understand themselves in this new universe of algorithms, as data points and as human beings." --The New Republic

"With wit and technical insight, former Microsoft and Google engineer Auerbach explains how his knowledge of coding helped form him as a person, at the same time showing how coding has influenced aspects of culture such as personality tests and child-rearing . . . An enjoyable look inside the point where computers and human life join." --Publisher's Weekly

"An eye-opening look at computer technology and its discontents and limitations." --Kirkus Reviews

"A profound memoir, a manifesto, and a warning about the digital world. Auerbach spins out the secret history of the computational universe we all live in now, filtering insider technical know-how through a profoundly humanistic point of view like no book since Gödel, Escher, Bach."
--Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be Wrong

"Auerbach artfully combines a personal and professional narrative with a philosophical examination of the way the real and digital worlds contrast and intertwine. It is a subject that will take on ever more importance as algorithms continue to gain dramatically more power and influence throughout our world." --Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots

"Very attractive (in all senses). The sentences resemble something both plain and clear, like a Shaker desk--a kind of generous transparency, and about things that are not transparent at all." --John Crowley, author of Little, Big

"A delightful journey through the history of personal computing. It succeeds brilliantly at conveying what it's like to be a coder and at exploding common stereotypes. I couldn't stop reading." --Scott Aaronson, David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin