Sourdough

A quirky take on a tech tale in San Francisco. Worth reading if you care about those things, the specific local moments are the things that I remember. It was a wonderful bedtime book.

As I've become a sourdough enthusiast myself, I found the existence of this book intriguing; a story about a woman robotics worker living in Silicon Valley, who starts experimenting with sourdough, obtains a 'mother' from an exotic ex-boyfriend, becomes involved with privately-funded underground project based in an abandoned military base, where various 'mad scientist' types research their bleeding-edge food technology, working towards the opening day of the ultimate exotic food market - sourdough, but also crickets, slurry grown from fungus, etc.

I enjoyed it, but on reflection, the fact that the plot could be encapsulated as "woman programmer discovers that actually she prefers baking" left a sour taste. And that was before I discovered that the author, Robin Sloan, isn't a woman as I had assumed.

Lighthearted and fun magical realism with goofy characters and a gentle parody of San Francisco's start-up culture and food culture. You might be tricked into thinking this is a realistic piece of fiction with only maybe a tiny bit of science fiction, and if you think that you might be annoyed at the ending. I had good feelings about this book because the main character lives in the neighborhood of San Francisco where I spent 12 years myself, so it gave me a pleasant -- well not warmth actually -- a pleasant cool and foggy feeling.

There is nothing wrong with the book. Nothing that's in it is bad. However it lacks a real antagonist or any real and intense conflict. Even in the final turning point, the main character's decision seems arbitrary and trite. It's a fun, relaxing read, but it lacks conflict and tension.

Someday someone will dig through the carbon nanotube graveyard of Silicon Valley and wonder, was there ever any humanity here? And someone else will hand them this book, gray and dusty from age, and say, "Yes. Many of the people here felt the yearning of creating something by hand, for no other reason than the pleasure of mastering a craft, and sharing it with their friends. Those people all left, and the ones that remained turned into robots, and died." The first person nods solemnly. It is a shame. Had more people read this book, perhaps this land might have been saved.