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

by Samuel Arbesman

Genres: Science, Technology, History, Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published June 10, 2025

Reviews

[Gavin]

Pollyanna in the fab. Very funny to read this at the same time as Solaris, which is acrid and miserable about much the same topic.

[Paul Winkeler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having lived and worked through a lot of the examples and having read many of the sources quoted I am afraid I did not gain any new insights. But that is just me.
What I was really hoping for were some descriptions of the experience of having written code and watching to come to life as if by magic. Instead there was meandering and vague correlating between computing, life and the occasional existential questioning with the odd tip of the hat to religion.
So if you were born after 2010 this could be a history book for you but otherwise you’re better off reading some more rigorous philosophy.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A series of Ted talks lacking in anecdotes somewhat aligned with the idea that computers are cool and here? Not deep enough for learning, not shallow or systematic enough as an introduction.

[Mikhail Filatov · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author is too much into Kabbalah and Torah for a book about code. It’s more a set of musings vs. something useful.