ISBN |
9780349416366 (paperback) |
Name |
Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine author. |
Title |
We are the nerds : the birth and tumultuous life of Reddit, the internet's culture laboratory / Christine Lagorio-Chafkin. |
Published |
London : Piatkus, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, 2018. |
©2018 |
Description |
xv, 492 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : colour illustrations ; 24 cm |
Notes |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-478) and index. |
Contents |
This guy has no shame -- How to start a startup -- Not your standard fixed-point combinator -- Front page of the internet -- "It's online" -- Hell summer -- How to act like a real adult -- Rounding error -- The algorithm and the cupboard -- "You are making us sound stupid" -- We are the nerds -- The deal -- Chasing that moment -- Millionaires' ball -- "You aren't a bank teller" -- A moment before dying -- The physicist, the information cowboy, the hacker, and the troll -- Mister Splashy Pants and the Large Hadron Collider -- Benign neglect -- Tools, yo -- Take me home -- The ones that got away -- Geek Woodstock -- Exodus and ill will -- Free-speech sandbox -- Blackout -- Meet your new CEO -- Not bad! -- The id -- Omniscient guardians of the depths -- The internet bus -- The 117th Boston Marathon -- Money on the mind -- Every man is responsible for his own soul -- Tiny boxes -- Unbelievable because it's so weird -- Closer to yes -- The poltergeist -- 10 -- Revenge and revenge porn -- Fame and its inverse -- AMAgeddon -- The return of Steve -- Fuzzy approach -- "Serendipity" and "bullshit" -- r/The_Donald -- Spezgiving -- What's good for the United States -- This is my whole life -- Reddit 4.0 -- Salesman emeritus -- Live from Hollywood -- All together now. |
Summary |
Reddit hails itself as 'the front page of the Internet'. It's the sixth most-visited website in the world -- and yet, millions have no idea what it is. They should be paying attention. We Are the Nerds takes readers inside this captivating, maddening enterprise, whose army of obsessed users have been credited with everything from solving crimes and spurring millions in charitable donations to seeding alt-right fury and even landing Donald Trump in the White House. Reddit has become a mirror of the Internet itself: It has dark trenches, shiny memes, malicious trolls, and a heart-warming ability to connect people across cultures, oceans, and ideological divides. This is the gripping story of how Reddit's founders, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, transformed themselves from student video-gamers into Silicon Valley millionaires as they turned their creation into an icon of the digital age. But the journey was often fraught. Reporting on Reddit for more than six years, conducting hundreds of interviews and gaining exclusive access to its founders, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin has written the definitive account of the birth and life of Reddit. Packed with revelatory details about its biggest triumphs and controversies, this inside look at Reddit includes fresh insights on the relationship between Huffman and Ohanian, staff turmoil, the tragic life of Aaron Swartz, and Reddit's struggle to become profitable. In a time when we are increasingly concerned about privacy and manipulation on social platforms, We Are the Nerds reveals Reddit's central role in the dissemination of culture and information in history's first fully digital century. Rigorously reported and highly entertaining, We Are the Nerds explores how this unique platform has changed the way we all communicate today. |
Subjects |
Reddit (Firm) |
Online social networks |
Online chat groups |
Internet -- Social aspects |
Links to Related Works |
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