Pixels surround us—on smartphone and computer screens, on billboards, and on electronic watch displays. From naive pixel art to mind-blowing 8K renders, most of what we see is made of pixels. We rarely think about them, yet pixels hold the unexpected beauty of computer calculations and serve as the foundation of our virtual everyday life.

The author of this book knows pixels like no one else. Alvy Ray Smith is one of the pioneers of modern animation, co-founder of Pixar and the computer graphics division at Lucasfilm. Having dedicated over 50 years to working with digital images, Smith has written a comprehensive and captivating biography of them, giving equal attention to reflections on art history, technology, and business.

"Pixel" will take you from Fourier's discoveries at the dawn of the French Revolution, the first computers, pixels, and hackers to the creation of "Toy Story" and "Ice Age," Steve Jobs' role in Pixar's fate, and progress in VR and neural networks.