Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty
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Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty Paperback – September 2, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for Geek Sublime:
"An unexpected tour de force. . . . Its ambition: to look deeply, and with great subtlety, into the connections and tensions between the worlds—the cultures—of technology and art. The book becomes an exquisite meditation on aesthetics, and meanwhile it is also part memoir, the story of a young man finding his way from India to the West and back, and from literature to programming and back. . . . Programmers feel an exhilarating creative mastery, and Chandra captures it." —James Gleick, The New York Times Book Review
"Geek Sublime dwells on Chandra's gripping personal narrative . . . as well as his sometimes spiritual exploration of computer language, the ancient Vedas, and the way they share so many traits with fiction. In a sense, it's like Zen and the Art of Software Maintenance. 'The past and present speak to us in languages we refuse to hear,' he proclaims, and it's the book's most succinct statement of intent—not to mention its own well-earned profundity." —NPR
"Chandra weaves a comprehensive understanding of the history, practice and art of programming into a startling fabric. . . . It is a dazzle, from beginning to end. . . . Plenty of programmers consider themselves artists, and plenty of writers presume to declaim about programming. But very, very few can comfortably inhabit both worlds with such grace and precision. . . . There is so much to be fascinated by here." —Salon
“Chandra, brainy, delving, and spellbinding, delineates the intricacy and beauty of code. . . . As [he] illuminates links between programming and literature in bedazzling elucidations of Sanskrit, linguistics, aesthetics, and Hindu, Tantric, and Buddhist beliefs, he also conducts unique and heady inquiries into codes, ethical as well as binary. Chandra’s creative and elegant meshing of thought and experience, conscience and storytelling nets both the profane and the sublime.” —Booklist
About the Author
Vikram Chandra is the author of three highly acclaimed works of fiction, most recently Sacred Games, which won the 2006 Hutch Crossword Award. Chandra lives in Oakland, California and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By
Raya Wolfsun
on September 5, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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I think this book holds the most for anyone who appreciates science/ technology/ logic and all it can do, but struggles with the culture around it where (at least in modern America) it downplays things like beauty, human connection, and the ability to stir emotion.
I found it to be a beautiful weaving together of computer science, premodern Indian linguistics/aesthetic philosophy, and the author's own experiences with writing, programming, and cross-cultural experiences concerning the US and India. It really resonated with me as someone who comes from a mixed American/Indian cultural background and is also involved with programming, linguistics, and the arts. That said, there was plenty of material which was new to me, and I think the author did a lovely job of explaining those things patiently and clearly (without getting boring when he covered familiar ground).
I found it to be a beautiful weaving together of computer science, premodern Indian linguistics/aesthetic philosophy, and the author's own experiences with writing, programming, and cross-cultural experiences concerning the US and India. It really resonated with me as someone who comes from a mixed American/Indian cultural background and is also involved with programming, linguistics, and the arts. That said, there was plenty of material which was new to me, and I think the author did a lovely job of explaining those things patiently and clearly (without getting boring when he covered familiar ground).
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By
B. Jacobs-swearingen
on September 21, 2014
Format: Paperback
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Readers should expect the majority of this book to be devoted to a detailed discussion of connections between Indian metaphysics and aesthetics and the author's personal approach to creative writing; the tech elements in the book (brief examination of digital logic, functional v object oriented programming, etc) are mostly relegated to their own segregated chapters. This makes one almost feel as if one is reading two entirely separate essays that have been interleaved with each other: an effect that certainly works against the author's apparent intent to explore connections between the worlds of coding and the "sublime."
For example, the book's strongest section details the rigorous grammar underlying classical Sanskrit, and mentions in passing the presence of constructs such as recursion/loops/etc that also appear in formal programming languages. It is certainly interesting to argue that if beauty can be produced (despite? because of?) the rigors of Classical Sanskrit (as the author amply demonstrates), similarly rigorous computer code can also be "beautiful." Unfortunately the interleaved organization of the book prevents the author from really developing this argument, and the code section of the book notably lacks any examples of code or algorithms generally thought to be "beautiful". This dearth of examples fundamentally hinders any attempt to develop a meaningful idea of what "beautiful code" is, beyond not being a big ugly mess, let alone explore in a substantive manner possible connections between the austere beauty of Sanskrit on the one hand and programming languages on the other.
The author's discussion, towards the end of the book, of the difficulty of good writing also seems to be something of a missed opportunity.Read more ›
For example, the book's strongest section details the rigorous grammar underlying classical Sanskrit, and mentions in passing the presence of constructs such as recursion/loops/etc that also appear in formal programming languages. It is certainly interesting to argue that if beauty can be produced (despite? because of?) the rigors of Classical Sanskrit (as the author amply demonstrates), similarly rigorous computer code can also be "beautiful." Unfortunately the interleaved organization of the book prevents the author from really developing this argument, and the code section of the book notably lacks any examples of code or algorithms generally thought to be "beautiful". This dearth of examples fundamentally hinders any attempt to develop a meaningful idea of what "beautiful code" is, beyond not being a big ugly mess, let alone explore in a substantive manner possible connections between the austere beauty of Sanskrit on the one hand and programming languages on the other.
The author's discussion, towards the end of the book, of the difficulty of good writing also seems to be something of a missed opportunity.Read more ›
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
bbb000
on September 16, 2014
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"The past and present speak to us in languages we refuse to hear,"
This is so true!!
The is a well written book where the author links the chapters and veers from his personal expereinces and philosophical works(Ancient indian gurus) to draw parallel with writing. This little mental adventure is based on his two careers: a) A code writer earning a paycheck to support his habit of b) writing.
The one struggle that i had with it was the quotes of the gurus, such as Abnivagupta, were dense to read where i was forced to re-read them and/or reference one or two indian philosophical books to decode what they were trying to say. But, for me the walk away was after finishing the book i am less ignorant of the Indian philosophical traditions. And, an aside to use some of those quotes at a party does wonders especially if you run into a pretentious philosophy student(ex - grad student)
This is so true!!
The is a well written book where the author links the chapters and veers from his personal expereinces and philosophical works(Ancient indian gurus) to draw parallel with writing. This little mental adventure is based on his two careers: a) A code writer earning a paycheck to support his habit of b) writing.
The one struggle that i had with it was the quotes of the gurus, such as Abnivagupta, were dense to read where i was forced to re-read them and/or reference one or two indian philosophical books to decode what they were trying to say. But, for me the walk away was after finishing the book i am less ignorant of the Indian philosophical traditions. And, an aside to use some of those quotes at a party does wonders especially if you run into a pretentious philosophy student(ex - grad student)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
Paul
on September 21, 2014
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Geek Sublime explores Chandra's love of language and reads in parts as an ode to Sanskrit in particular. Unfortunately, the constant shifting in description and language is distracting and makes it challenging to connect a narrative. Historical descriptions of computer science and its progenitors were particularly interesting and overall the book forces through a plausible hypothesis that beauty is not only text but form and human response.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By
SALR
on September 14, 2014
Format: Paperback
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This is either the most brilliant amalgam of technology and Indian culture, or a confused stew of random thoughts hiding behind a facade of putative shiny brilliance. I think without a solid grounding in the literature and religion of India most readers will be quite lost. I certainly was. The geek material was appealing but it's connection to the Indian lore part eluded me.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By
Clive McCarthy
on September 25, 2014
Format: Paperback
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This book was a huge disappointment. As others have commented the analogy between Indian literary culture and code is a severe stretch. The chapters that are little more than a feminist rant, do not address the subject of the book at all.
The book hardly explores the invisible architectural beauty of a well written program and does nothing to make such beauty visible to the non-programmer.
To paraphrase H.L. Mencken: We must respect the other fellows culture, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
The book hardly explores the invisible architectural beauty of a well written program and does nothing to make such beauty visible to the non-programmer.
To paraphrase H.L. Mencken: We must respect the other fellows culture, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By
Edward Moran
on October 3, 2014
Format: Paperback
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A bit disappointing. He doesn't really understand the history of computing and he's confused about what's important. The the brilliant idea of a _stored program_ machine is hardly touched. Compared to that, the fact that that early "programs" were input using a plug board is pretty small stuff.
The discussion of Sanskrit is more interesting but also exaggerated. It should too much like claiming that ancient Indians had nuclear power.
The discussion of Sanskrit is more interesting but also exaggerated. It should too much like claiming that ancient Indians had nuclear power.
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