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The Magic of Code

How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World—and Shapes Our Future

Coming Soon
The Magic of Code Open the full-size image

Contributors

By Samuel Arbesman

Formats and Prices

Price

$18.99

Price

$24.99 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. ebook $18.99 $24.99 CAD
  2. Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
  3. Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $27.99

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In the tradition of classics such as The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas, a bold reframing of our relationship with technology into one that is more positive and human centered.
 
In the digital world, code is the essential primary building block, the equivalent of the cell or DNA in the biological sphere—and almost as mysterious.  Code can create entire worlds, real and virtual; it allows us to connect instantly to people and places around the globe; and it performs tasks that were once only possible in science fiction. It is a superpower, and not just in a technical sense. It is also a gateway to ideas. As vividly illustrated by Samuel Arbesman, it is the ultimate connector, providing new insight and meaning into how everything from language and mythology to biblical texts, biology, even our patterns of thought connect with the history and nature of computing.

While the building block of code can be used for many wondrous things it can also create deeper wedges in our society and be weaponized to cause damage to our planet or our civilization. Code and computing are too important to be left to the tech community; it is essential that each of us engage with it. And we fail to understand it at our peril.

By providing us with a framework to think about coding and its effects upon the world and placing the past, current, and future developments in computing into its broader setting we see how software and computers can work for people as opposed to against our needs. With this deeper understanding into the “why” of coding we can be masters of technology rather than its victims.
 

Genre:

  • "In his thoughtful and immensely creative new book, Arbesman injects a much-needed sense of wonder back into the ever-more powerful world of computers and algorithms. You'll never think about computation the same way again—and this is a good thing!"
    Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Deep Work
  • "This book is a delight. About so much more than 'just' code, this book should be required reading for how to be human—and make decisions wisely—in a future suffused with computation."
    Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets
  • "Expansive and absorbing, The Magic of Code reveals code as a universal force—swirling through disciplines, absorbing ideas, and connecting worlds. Samuel Arbesman helps us see that computation is far bigger and more unifying than we ever imagined."
    Linda Liukas, author of Hello Ruby

On Sale
Jun 10, 2025
Page Count
320 pages
Publisher
PublicAffairs
ISBN-13
9781541704503

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Samuel Arbesman

About the Author

Samuel Arbesman is Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital. In addition, he is an xLab senior fellow at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and a research fellow at the Long Now Foundation. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic, and he was previously a contributing writer for Wired. His previous books are Overcomplicated: Technology at the Limits of Comprehension and The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date. He holds a PhD in computational biology from Cornell University and lives in Cleveland with his family.
 

Learn more about this author