We Are the Nerds

"This is the untold story of how one of the world's most popular websites was hatched--and how it took on a mind of its own. It's a gripping read, and it's full of lessons for building startups and organizing communities."

"We Are the Nerds is 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! Lagorio-Chafkin takes us back to a formative time for the modern web, helping us understand what can go wrong--and right!--when we try to harness the power of online community (and make money along the way)."

"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."

"Lagorio-Chafkin's book is incisive, witty, and brilliantly written. She gives you a front-row seat to the world-altering consequences of the decisions made by a cast of compelling, though sometimes stumbling, humans on the front lines of the Internet--nerds and all."

"Christine Lagorio-Chafkin has stepped into a male-centric genre, the start-up narrative, and produced a book of monumental power and importance: a rich, thoughtful chronicle of Reddit that grapples just as brilliantly with the dark side of tech--its trolls, its problems with gender and diversity--as it does its culture-shattering innovations. I was wowed by this book."

"Excellent.... Learn how the internet's front page got its mojo back."

"A classic 'we were coders once, and young' tale.... Lagorio-Chafkin fearlessly explores Reddit's dark edges."

"Really three tales in one ... that of a scrappy start-up destined for web domination,... [the] technologists, entrepreneurs and iconoclasts seeking to reshape the world, ... [and] the rise of social media from the perspective of one of its most important players.... The reader feels like Forrest Gump, stumbling from one remarkable event or person to the next... We Are the Nerds describes how Reddit began. The real story is how the site and its ilk will change the world. On that, we're still in Act One."

"Fascinating.... . Drawing on dozens of original interviews with Reddit's founders and employees, old chat logs and photographs and e-mails, Lagorio-Chafkin .... re-creates key moments in novelistic detail.... Sharply written and brilliantly reported, We Are the Nerds is an eye-opening look at how Reddit helped shape contemporary Internet and political culture in the United States."

"Lagorio-Chafkin's assured narrative makes even crashing servers the stuff suspense thrillers are made of."

"[We Are the Nerds] tells the inside story of how Reddit came to be the Internet's 'id.'"