The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World-and Shapes Our Future

by Samuel Arbesman

Overview

In the tradition of classics such as The Lives of a Cell, a bold reframing of our relationship with technology 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, and 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 to our detriment.

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 subjects.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541704503
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

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. The first computer he used was a Commodore VIC-20.
 

Editorial Reviews

A challenging but rewarding history of code, and a glimpse of a future beyond it.”—Kirkus

“In his thoughtful and immensely creative new book, Samuel 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

“What an incredible joy it is to be on a journey of intellectual curiosity with such an enchanting polymath. Arbesman has convinced me that the most wondrous and awe-inspiring feature of our modern world might very well be the complex, invisible universe of digital code that keeps it all running.”—Joshua Foer, author of Moonwalking with Einstein

“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

“This book is a lot of fun! It explores all the ways the idea of computation can be fruitfully wrapped around nearly everything. It will stretch your mind.”—Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick, Wired

“Expansive and absorbing, The Magic of Code reveals code as a universal force—swirling through disciplines, absorbing ideas, and connecting worlds. Arbesman helps us see that computation is far bigger and more unifying than we ever imagined.”—Linda Liukas, author of Hello Ruby

From the Publisher