We Are the Nerds

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What to expect

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.


'Fast-paced, packed with insight, and, above all, wonderfully entertaining....A must-read.' -- Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

'Incisive, witty and brilliantly written.' - Emily Chang, author of Brotopia

Critics Review

  • Reddit is life. Or at least that’s the case for millions upon millions of people on the Internet. Christine Lagorio-Chafkin has done a masterful job of explaining how Reddit became the Internet’s dominant cultural force. Fast-paced, packed with insight and, above all, wonderfully entertaining, this is a must read for anyone hoping to make sense of the century ahead

    Ashlee Vance, New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk

  • Incisive, witty and brilliantly written. Lagorio-Chadkin gives you a front row seat to the world-altering consequences of sometimes responsible decisions made by a few tiny humans on the front lines of the internet, nerds and all

    Emily Chang, author of the national bestseller Brotopia

  • The best, grittiest, most accurate book yet about what it’s like to build a startup and a community from scratch (a struggle I know well). And it’s a great story; truly fun to read!

    John Zeratsky, former design partner, Google Ventures, and New York Times bestselling author of Sprint and Make Time

  • I’ve heard every start-up story you can imagine, but Reddit’s is as fascinating as it gets. Christine has captured what it really looks like to start a company and turned Reddit’s struggle for success into a gripping, entertaining book that is a must-read for every entrepreneur

    Daymond John, star of ABC's Shark Tank, bestselling author of Rise and Grind

  • A triumph – a business book that reads like a page-turning novel . . . This book captures all the wonder and anxiety we feel about human connection in the social media age

    James Ledbetter, author of One Nation Under Gold

  • You feel like you’re inside the room during the most important moments of the site’s history. Too many books on tech feel like they have been Googled together; Lagorio-Chafkin’s is rich in original reportage

    Times Literary Supplement

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