SOFTWARE TAKES COMMAND (a new book by Lev Manovich)
DOWNLOAD THE BOOK:
PDF | no footnotes
DOC | includes footnotes
Version: November 20, 2008.
Please note that this version has not been proofread yet, and it is also missing illustrations.
(I will add them soon.)
Length: 82,071 Words (including footnotes).
SUGGESTIONS, CORRECTIONS AND COMMENTS:
send to manovich@ucsd.edu with the word “softbook” in the email header.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License
Please notify me if you want to reprint any parts of the book.
DOWNLOAD STATS:
11/23/2008, 21:00pm (PST): book files uploaded on the server.
Downloads (both .pdf + .doc files combined) during the first month (11/23/2008 - 12/23/2008):
Downloads (both .pdf + .doc files combined) in January 2009 (01/01/2009 - 01/30/2009):
Google Analytics: report 11/19/2008-1/31/2009:
visitors by city: data (only first 500 cities.)
Google Analytics: report 11/19/2008-1/31/2009:
visitors by city: click on the image to see the full graph (only first 500 cities)
Google Analytics: report 11/19/2008-1/31/2009:
visitors by country: click on the image to see the full graph (all 98 countries) - using log scale
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visitors by city: map
BOOK AS SOFTWARE:
One of the advantages of online distribution which I can control is that I don’t have to permanently fix the book’s contents. Like contemporary software and web services, the book can change as often as I like, with new “features” and “big fixes” added periodically. I plan to take advantage of these possibilities. From time to time, I will be adding new material and making changes and corrections to the text. All previous versions will be still available, and I will tell you what I changed. (Don't worry, I promise not to change the book's ideas from versions to versions. Think of the subsequent versions as new software releases with big fixes and new features added.)
LATEST VERSION:
Check this page for the latest version of the book.
URL: softwarestudies.com/softbook
AUDIO FORMAT
If you are interested in donating some of your time to narrate any section of the book, that will be great! We will make your narration available here for download, and of course you wil be credited. You can just go ahead and do this, or email to manovich@ucsd.edu with the word “softbook” in the email header if you want to discuss this first.
SUBMIT YOUR OWN COVER and/or ILLUSTRATIONS
If you feel like designing alternative covers and/or illustrations for the book, go ahead! We will review all submissions - and, if you feel they are cool, the covers will be featured on this page, while illustration will be included in the book file being distributed online. Of course you will be fully credited.
Left: cover by Manovich. Background: Zaha Hadid's floor at Hotel Puerto America, Madrid. | Right: cover by Manovich. Photo of Shanghai model by Adrien Hochet (Flickr)
Left: cover by Cicero Silva, Software Studies Brazil: "São Paulo after Frank Gehry algorithm." | Right: cover by Rosa Menkman: "The starting point was a still from my glitch-based music video Radio Dada. The still has been vectorized and rescaled so I am not sure if i would still call it a 'clean' glitch. But it still stems from a moment that I let Software Take Control, and then me taking it back afterwards."
