Hackers & Painters

Big Ideas from the Computer Age

By: Paul Graham

Narrated by: Mark Sando

"The computer world is like an intellectual Wild West, in which you can shoot anyone you wish with your ideas, if you're willing to risk the consequences. " (from Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham)

We are living in the computer age, in a world increasingly designed and engineered by computer programmers and software designers, by people who call themselves hackers. Who are these people, what motivates them, and why should you care?

Consider these facts: Everything around us is turning into computers. Your typewriter is gone, replaced by a computer. Your phone has turned into a computer. So has your camera. Soon your TV will. Your car was not only designed on computers, but has more processing power in it than a room-sized mainframe did in 1970. Letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, and even your local store are being replaced by the internet.

Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham, explains this world and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear, thoughtful prose that draws on illuminating historical examples, Graham takes readers on an unflinching exploration into what he calls "an intellectual Wild West".

The ideas discussed in this book will have a powerful and lasting impact on how we think, how we work, how we develop technology, and how we live. Topics include the importance of beauty in software design, how to make wealth, heresy and free speech, the programming language renaissance, the open-source movement, digital design, internet startups, and more.

©2008 Paul Graham (P)2021 Upfront Books

Technology explained for our time.

This is a great book for those who want to know more about the direction technology should be headed. The past, present and future gets described with great detail from someone who's been there from the start. Paul Graham has a lot of great insight throughout this illustration, most definitely if you want to understand what it takes to open a business/startup. I'll be using this from time to time as a guide, because the experience and knowledge is there. Thanks Paul, and Audible!

Engineering as Art: A Hacker, a Painter, and the Future of AI

Paul Graham’s Hackers & Painters is an easy yet thought-provoking read that resonated deeply with me. It rekindled my interest in Lisp, but more importantly, I connected with the book’s core idea—how hackers and painters share a creative mindset. Having started as a painter at a young age before transitioning into hacking and engineering, I’ve always struggled to explain how I see myself as both an artist and an engineer. I don’t just solve problems mathematically; I imagine solutions first, using math as a tool to bring them to life.

The book reaffirmed my belief that creativity is at the heart of great engineering and even influenced my perspective on my next startup. However, I found it lacking in its vision for the future of programming and AI. While Graham explores the past and present of software development, I believe we now need a programming language that bridges AI and human intuition—much like how human language translates our thoughts into communication. In many ways, Hackers & Painters helped me appreciate my background and feel connected to Graham’s way of thinking.

Would highly recommend it to engineers, startup founders, and anyone who sees programming as more than just code—but as an art form.

Good points, but nothing particular new to me

Perhaps since I've been working in the tech industry for quite a while, and this was written quite a while back, a lot of the content did resonate but its only serving as a reminder or reinforcement but not providing any new insight/knowledge. Glad to know I've learned a lot without reading this while working though.

Techno bro claims that art and commerce are good

Certainly there are parts that are very dated as any collection of essays. Parts that push a techno bro libertarian viewpoint that misses frequently (ie greed is good) that just didn’t work for me, felt to much like the bitcoin mafia bs we have today. Some of the discussion around lisp and customer driven value is interesting and is not new or original but does a good job of placing his experience within context of why these are important.

Old and gold

finally listened to this book after reading it years ago. Paul Graham has many more fantastic writings and I hope they could be compiled and published one day. highly recommend

a mindsett that sets people apart

I honestly have to say this is one of the few books this spoken about issues of American Education American culture and the highlights of the individualized mindset AKA what we call the American mindset. It does gets a bit technical near the end which is hard to follow in audiobook, but overall it gives a great interdisciplinary look at what a maker is and what an entrepreneur has to do.

the book is 15 years old

so this book is really a re-release and it's very dated. Other than a few general observations about Europe in the Renaissance it's hard