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Close to the Machine

Technophilia and Its Discontents
By Ellen Ullman
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Brief Description
Ellen Ullman's humane, insightful, and beautifully written memoir is a cult classic exploring the ever-complicating intersections between people and technology. Writing from 1990s San Francisco, where she ran a programming business that served everyone from credit card companies to AIDS clinics, she describes the strange ecstasies... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2799
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A cult classic memoir of the internet revolution, written by a female programmer living in San Francisco.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Ellen Ullman's humane, insightful, and beautifully written memoir is a cult classic exploring the ever-complicating intersections between people and technology. Writing from 1990s San Francisco, where she ran a programming business that served everyone from credit card companies to AIDS clinics, she describes the strange ecstasies of programming and the even stranger social dynamics of the emerging California tech world. Here, she crosses paths with the men and women of the emerging internet: sleeping with them, competing with them, trying to get them to debug her systems and decode her desires.

Equally evocative of the messiness of life and the artful efficiency of code, Close to the Machine is a deeply personal, prescient account of working at the forefront of computing.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781805331957

Publisher: Pushkin Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 August 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Pushkin Press Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Jaron Lanier

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 208

Collections

Biography & Memoir Business Biographies Computing & Technology Education & Reference Ellen Ullman Non-Fiction

About the Author

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 novelist; By Blood, her second novel, is also published by Pushkin Press. She lives in San Francisco.

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