Ellen Ullman wrote her first computer program in 1978. She went on to have a twenty-year career as a programmer and software engineer. Her essays and books have become landmark works describing the social, emotional, and personal effects of technology. She is the author of two novels: By Blood (published by Picador), a New York Times Notable Book; and The Bug (Picador), a runner-up for the Pen/Hemingway Award. Her memoir, Close to the Machine (Picador), about her life as a software engineer during the internet’s first rise, became a cult classic. Her new book, Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology (MCD), tells a continuing story of the technical world as she experienced it while living in its midst for more than two decades.

When the San Francisco-based author visited the famous City Lights Bookstore earlier this month, ZYZZYVA Managing Editor Oscar Villalon talked to her about Life in Code. She also read from the book, which you can hear in the video at 26:53.