The Pleasures of Reading Computer Code

<p>Even if you never cook it. Maybe&nbsp;<em>especially</em>&nbsp;if you never even plan to cook it!</p> <p>Back in 2013,&nbsp;the author Bee Wilson pondered this phenomenon while reviewing the William Sitwell book&nbsp;<em>A History of Food in 100 Recipes.&nbsp;</em>As Wilson noted, many of these recipes were incredibly ornate &mdash; like a lamb korma by Madhur Jaffrey &ldquo;with an ingredient list that goes on for more than a page&rdquo;. So they weren&rsquo;t necessarily the meals you&rsquo;d immediately rush out to make. Indeed, you might never make them at all.</p> <p>Even so, as Wilson argued, merely reading such sumptuous, byzantine recipes serves another purpose: They &ldquo;stimulate our imagination&rdquo;.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s fun to imagine &mdash; &ldquo;hmmm, what would be it be like&nbsp;<em>if</em>&nbsp;I made this dish? How much fun would it be? What would the tricky parts be, and what new skills would it require?&rdquo;</p> <p>You don&rsquo;t need to actually make the food to experience these delights. Reading a cookbook, Wilson notes, is thus like wandering through a mental castle of possibilities &hellip;</p> <p><a href="https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-pleasures-of-reading-computer-code-d433b5bbe869">Read More</a></p>