☞ Computation and Wonder, Soon in Book Form!

You can now preorder my forthcoming book "The Magic of Code"!

At long last, my book The Magic of Code is going to be published. Though really not quite yet—it’s not being released until June 2025, so there is a while to go. Nevertheless, the book is feeling real. The copyediting is complete and I am in the middle of looking at page proofs. The book is getting ready to go into production, beginning its long journey from computer file to physical object you can hold in your hands. (Or, I guess, to ebook or audio file but that journey sounds less impressive,)

And we even have a cover!

Delightful!

This book is what I wish I had been able to read about computing when I was younger. Instead, I had to cobble together a lot of these ideas and insights from many sources on my own. But this needn’t be the case any longer. The Magic of Code can hopefully be an introduction to the wonders and weirdness of computation, and how these ideas connect to all manner of topics, from language and biology to philosophy and thought. It’s also—I dare say—a lot of fun. If you’re an expert programmer, hopefully there will still be something in here that entertains. But if you’re new to this world, let it be a kind and friendly introduction, a view of computing and code that is humanistic and capacious. And if you have a loved one for whom you wish to demonstrate why the world of computing and code is fascinating, please press this book into their skeptical hands.

For more on the philosophy behind the book, here is what I wrote awhile back when my book deal was announced. But a guiding principle, that this book should have the following quality, still stands:

I’ve tried to stuff the book with fun ideas and interesting facts, brief digressions and entertaining stories, all in service of the idea of computing as a liberal art. It’s a wild ride.

And now I am going to make the required plea for preordering my book. The power of preorders is one that you have likely heard about before—they all count towards bestseller lists on the week of the publication day—but if you would like to learn more about their meaning and importance, I recommend you take a look at Robin Sloan’s discussion of this in the months prior to the launch of his wonderful novel Moonbound. But in short, as Robin notes elsewhere:

Preorders are the essential fuel for any book’s launch. I’d estimate the value of a preorder, in algorithmic and marketing terms, at around 10X the value of a sale after publication. That’s some serious leverage.

Which means that I am going to be asking you, Dear Reader, to shout about this book from the rooftops. Preorder it yourself, get your friends and family (and enemies and strangers) to preorder it as well. You can do so from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, independent bookstores, or wherever books are sold.

Also, if you have suggestions for podcasts on which I should discuss this book, or other publicity or promotion opportunities, please feel free to reach out.

And fair warning Dear Reader: you will hear more about this book in the coming months, but I will do my best to balance it with other ideas and concerns. This newsletter will not become an airhorn for The Magic of Code. Or at least it won’t only become that.

In the course of writing and researching this book I have spent a lot of time exploring the historical threads of computing, connected these ideas to many of other domains of knowledge, and tried to convey my abiding sense of excitement in the world of computation. I’m overjoyed that this book will be out in the world in a few months. Thank you to all of you, my readers and supporters, who have been with me on this journey. ■

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Some Other News

I recently had a great conversation with Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians novels, about his new book The Bright Sword over at at the Lux podcast for The Orthogonal Bet. Check it out (as well as my other conversations too).

I also reviewed Henry Oliver’s book Second Act in the Wall Street Journal.

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The Enchanted Systems Roundup

Here are some links worth checking out that touch on the complex systems of our world (both built and natural):

🜸 Making Habitable Worlds: Planets Versus Megastructures: “We suggest to specifically pay attention to the multiple planetary systems that have Strange Exoplanetary Architectures (SEA) - unusual planetary arrangements that cannot be explained by current planetary formation theories, because these could be the result of ETI moving planets intentionally to suit their needs.”

🝳 The Hidden Bird Algorithm: “Simulating flocks in the shadows of Hollywood.”

🝤 Why Does Anyone Care About the Nobel Prize? “More than a century ago, the Swedes pulled off one of the greatest branding exercises in history.”

🜹 Polostan by Neal Stephenson: “The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gunrunning and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C., during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB.”

🝊 Spreadsheet Day was October 17th

🜸 I love that this children’s book exists: What Is the Story of Captain Picard?

🝖 Retro 80s Versions of Tech Company Logos

🝊 The ABC of Fonts Series by Simon Garfield: Short books about Albertus, Baskerville, and Comic Sans.

🝳 Type Revival for Film & TV: “For my work on Season 5 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, we had a big subway sequence in Episode 2. The old hand-painted signage in New York’s subway system had a look that was very specific to New York and that was not represented in any typefaces I could find, and since I knew we’d be making a lot of signage for this, creating fonts was a suitable solution for speed and historical accuracy.”

Until next time.