Hackers  Painters, Paul Graham
Hackers  Painters, Paul Graham
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Hackers & Painters
Big Ideas from the Computer Age

Author: Paul Graham

Narrator: Mark Sando

Unabridged: 7 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 03/08/2021


Synopsis

"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " --from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham

We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?

Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the Internet.

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Einar on August 10, 2011

I had serious problems with this book. So Paul Graham is a successful Lisp hacker who made a lot of money from his start-up. Good for him. To be sure, this earns him some credibility in discussing languages and start-ups. Unfortunately, he takes it upon himself to extrapolate from this single data p......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on June 24, 2011

What I expected going in was interested parallels on the process of creating software versus other creative arts, and what Graham had learned across multiple disciplines. That I can dig. What I got is a string of thinly justified essays that are lionising The Uber1337 Hacker as a misunderstood maveri......more

Goodreads review by Anusha on May 19, 2020

A collection of essays that are thought-provoking and insightful. The author makes nerds look super cool, so a big thumbs up from me. I recommend it to programmers and people interested in computer science. Will reread and write a proper review sometime in the future.......more

Goodreads review by Philipp on October 09, 2013

It's a strange hit-and-miss affair, this collection - the essays on software design and especially programming languages (and the advantages of Lisp) are a joy to read, Graham's clearly a great, succinct writer. The essays on society, however, are too "American" for my taste - Graham takes a single d......more

Goodreads review by Vignesh on February 27, 2016

Starting from random opinionated views on how the world works, to interesting correlations about art and science ending with a strong evangelism on the programming language lisp, Paul forces us to put our thinking cap on.......more