Download or read book Close to the Machine written by Ellen Ullman and published by Pushkin Press. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents , Ellen Ullman's cult classic memoir of the world of computers in the 1980s and early 1990s, is an insight of a world we rarely see up close. "Astonishing... impossible to put down" San Francisco Chronicle "We see the seduction at the heart of programming: embedded in the hijinks and hieroglyphics are the esoteric mysteries of the human mind" Wired Close to the Machinehas become a cult classic: Ellen Ullman's humane, insightful, and beautifully written memoir explores the ever-complicating intersections between people and technology; the strange ecstasies of programming; the messiness of life and the artful efficiency of code. It is a deeply personal, prescient account of working at the forefront of computing. With a new introduction by Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget "By turns hilarious and sobering, this slim gem of a book chronicles the Silicon Valley way of life... full of delicately profound insights into work, money, love, and the search for a life that matters" Newsweek Ellen Ullman's Close to the Machine, a memoir of her time as a software engineer during the early years of the internet revolution, became a cult classic and established her as a writer of considerable talent; with her second book, The Bug, she became an acclaimed and vital novelist; By Bloodis her third. All three titles are published in the UK by Pushkin Press. Her essays and opinion pieces have been widely published in venues such as Harper's, The New York Times, Salon, and Wired. She lives in San Francisco.