Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World

Spannend, aber ein bisschen zäh am Ende.

As a former tech reporter myself, and--full disclosure--a friend of the author, I'm predisposed to like this book. However, even were I not, Coders resonates as a necessary book for our current moment.At no other time in recent history has software and the people who make it been more critical to how we experience the world. Thanks to the current "pics or it didn't happen" mentality, Thompson's talent at digging into the personalities and the quirks of the mostly men (and the few women) who write the code that we rely on to stay in touch with loved ones, share experiences, shop, consume media, etc., should make readers to think about how the foundations of so much of daily life are produced.He deftly exhumes the history of the software industry from its early days when coding was considered secretarial labor (and thus left to the ladies) to today's more male-dominated environment, where software bros chase the big score. He asks the right questions: Why did this happen and what was the effect of that shift? What are the knock-on impacts when coders are overwhelmingly white (or Asian), male, and convinced of their own overweening intelligence? Is the current, toxic environment found online solely because humans can be pretty awful to one another? Or is it because the guys who coded the platform just didn't think about online abuse because they never had to? Did that ignorance lead them to unwittingly enable the abuse, fake news, and mob culture we now have to endure? Thompson convincingly argues that a fair amount of that ignorance is at fault.Ultimately, code doesn't just happen; humans with their weirdo attitudes, biases, ideologies, and faults write it, and they tend to encode into the code itself those very same attitudes, biases, ideologies, and faults -- whether they mean to or not. That's why it's important to understand the history of coders and the code they write. Given how important software is to the modern world -- a glitch at one airport can disrupt airline traffic all over the world, just to name one recent example -- we also have to know who the authors are.Thompson's book does that, and with a verve, style, and brisk pace that makes Coders a readable, engaging, and valuable addition to this field of study.

I get so excited when I find a great book. I finished this book in a week: fascinating and well written. It's nonfiction but it reads almost like a novel, making it easy and fun to read. I don't plan on becoming a coder but this has helped me understand how relevant programmers are in the working world. I thoroughly enjoyed it; you won't discover the secrets of the universe or be inspired to set up a business, but it's a light and enjoyable read. Recommended!

This is an interesting book but a little too long. Could have used better editing. Worth reading none-the-less.

This is a good history of programming and programmers. I have read much of the historical material before in other books but this book manages to present new material in every chapter. This book seems to be targeted for the non-programmer or maybe someone who works with programmers and wants to figure out why they do things the way they do. First - there is not one programmer type but they good programmers share some common qualities that the book delves into for the reader. When my son wanted to become a programmer I feared there was one quality he did not have - ability to deal with frustration. The book details why that ability is essential for all good programmers to survive and thrive. I loved the book so much I purchased copies to give out to co-workers that have to work with coders.