Bitwise: A Life in Code

A lifelong student of the systems that shape our lives, David Auerbach reflects on how he has experienced the algorithms that taxonomize human speech, knowledge and behavior and that compel us to do the same.

Auerbach’s latest book, Bitwise, is an exhilarating, elegant memoir and a significant polemic on how computers and algorithms shape our understanding of the world and of who we are. He recounts his childhood spent drawing ferns with the programming language Logo on the Apple IIe, his adventures in early text-based video games, his education as an engineer and his contributions to instant messaging technology developed for Microsoft and the servers powering Google’s data stores.

A book signing follows the event.