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Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty Paperback – September 2, 2014

by Vikram Chandra (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars 45 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Graywolf Press; 1st edition (September 2, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1555976859
  • ISBN-13: 978-1555976859
  • Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsTalks A Bit About Tech, A Lot About the Sublime, and Never Links the Two
By B. Jacobs-swearingen on September 21, 2014
Format: Paperback
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 ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsFascinating and frustrating by turns
By Paul on September 21, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
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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5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant reconciliation of computers, literature and culture(s)
By Raya Wolfsun on September 5, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
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).
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4.0 out of 5 starsAn interesting and entertaining attempt to change your way of thinking
By Dave Kuhlman on November 24, 2014
Format: Paperback
There are at least two aspects to Chandra's book: the parts that apply to modern computer
programming and coding and the parts that apply principles of Indian philosophy and poetry
to coding.

Disclaimer: I'm a programmer. I've written code for computers for many years using a
variety of programming languages and running on a variety of machines and software
environments. So, I'm reading and viewing some of what is in "Geek sublime" from a
special point of view. Because I spend a good part of my time reading and trying to
understand code and trying to make fixes to it, I care more about whether code is
understandable and modifiable than I do about some notion of elegance or on aesthetic
qualities based on an external standard or guide. It may also be significant that I
program in high level, interpreted languages, mostly Python (https://www.python.org/), but
also a bit in Ruby (https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/) and Erlang (http://www.erlang.org/).
These are languages whose design places emphasis on code that is clean, readable, and easy
to debug code over, for example, execution speed or memory usage. I much prefer Python,
Ruby, and Erlang over low level, cryptic languages like C and C++, which make reading code
and finding and fixing errors so much more difficult.

Having said that, code that has the the qualities of elegance and aesthetics that Chandra
discusses, likely will trend toward readable and modifiable code. However, I say shoot
for code that is readable and modifiable and the aesthetics will follow, rather than
aiming for the aesthetic qualities and hoping that the readability and maintainability
follow from that.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsApplying Indian Literary Theory to Code Writing
By M. L. Asselin VINE VOICE on February 15, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
The title of Vikram Chandra's book, “Geek Sublime,” doesn't give away a lot about its content, and even its subtitle, “The Beauty of Code, The Code of Beauty,” is somewhat elusive. When you finish this relatively brief book you'll agree that the title is apt, but still regard it as somewhat recondite.

Okay, BLUF: the sum of the book is less than the total value of its parts. Chandra, a long-time writer of code, enthralls the reader with his survey of the history of code, the challenges of code-writing, and the argument over whether code can be beautiful. His inside-the-business revelations, e.g., that a lot of code writers don't really understand how computers actually work, can be small epiphanies and also oddly reassuring. That's the first third of the book. The second third is a survey of classical Indian literary aesthetics, focusing on the work of Anandavardhana (9th c.) and Abhinavagupta (10th-11th c.).

What? you're asking yourself. It bears pointing out, if you weren't aware, that Chandra is also an acclaimed novelist. And as an Indian by birth, he has clearly an appreciation of his cultural roots. It doesn't necessarily follow that Chandra would be well positioned to write on Indian literary aesthestics, however, since he isn't, so far as I can tell, a scholar of Indian classical literature, but at least to this admittedly uninformed reader, he does a credible job. Although at times the Indian terms and names might cause the eyes to glaze over, this reader was able not only to follow along his discussion, but, in time, enjoy it as much if not more than the section on code-writing.

If beauty in code writing was the thesis, and Indian literary aesthetics the antithesis, the final third of the book attempts synthesis.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsBeautifully done. Got me back into programming

Beautifully done. Got me back into programming. Not likely to pick up Sanskrit anytime soon, but, who knows? Read more

Published 5 months ago by CH Richards
2.0 out of 5 starsGood Topic, Disappointing Book

I really wanted to like this book. As a long-time science writer who knows South Asia well, I was curious to read Chandra's thoughts on the intersections of coding, literature,... Read more

Published 7 months ago by David Jarmul
5.0 out of 5 starsBringing an art genre into computer coding

As an Amazon author of "Conceal Carry; Pause" I like interesting innovation by an author to make a book interesting. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Donn G. Ziebell
3.0 out of 5 starsThree Stars

Purchased for Library at work.

Published 9 months ago by G
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

excellent writing

Published 9 months ago by R. Chamberlain
2.0 out of 5 starsNot Really About Code

Don't judge a book by its cover. This book is mostly a writer's memoirs and an overview of Indian Literary Aesthetics. Not really at all about computer programming. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Tom
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful book for those who love code.

This book will take you on a journey of the connections between zen, art, language, history, and software. Fantastic.

Published 11 months ago by Jonathan M. Hyry
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

An interesting and readable view of the world of programming. Vikram Chandra's voice is genuine and personal.

Published 12 months ago by Waldemar Kalinowski
4.0 out of 5 starsa miasma of concept tornadoes

There are a lot of good and interesting ideas here, but Chandra seems to smash the most disparate of them together in some sort of frenzied confluence of idealism and fever dreams. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Pam
3.0 out of 5 starsIdiosyncratic

There may be a perfect audience for Vikram Chandra’s book titled, Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Stephen T. Hopkins

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