Last Friday (October 10th), the GrepBeat Book Club got together for an eighth meetup, keeping up with our new every-second-Friday-of-every-second-month schedule (a classic scheduling format). We had a lighter-than-usual turnout, possibly because those (several) of you who had already read 1995’s “Microserfs” decided that you didn’t, ultimately, need to discuss it again 30 years later.
Even so, the book lent itself to some interesting conversation in a smaller group, and we’re confident our next selection—Chuck Klosterman’s exceedingly thought-provoking “But What If We’re Wrong”—will be an exciting hook for our next meetup on Friday, December 12th. I’ll personally vouch for this one: It’s a bit outside our rut focal zone of tech/startup-y books and is basically built to spark interesting conversations. More on that below.
In the meantime, as always, here’s a recap of our eightgh book: Douglas Coupland’s “Microsfers.”
The Book in 150 Words
“Microserfs” is a novel arranged as Powerbook journal entries by Dan Underwood—one of a group of programmers living and working together under the unseen, god-like “Bill” (Gates) at Microsoft. The group’s most gifted member, Michael, is called away to work on a special project, but ultimately summons his team to Silicon Valley help him with a startup called Oop! (which is basically Minecraft).
Rather than being about the Oop! journey, though, this book is about how those absorbed in early-modern tech culture could find purpose or happiness beyond computers. The team is good, entle mockery of the culture is amusing, and Oop! works, but what we’re really seeing is the need for more: exercise, family, romance, culture….
Studying Microsoft, Coupland observed, “These people are so locked into [their world of computers], by default some sort of transcendence is located elsewhere.” That observation pretty much spells out what “Microserfs” explores.
What Book Club Thought
As mentioned, we had a lighter gathering this time around. What’s more (and this isn’t necessarily a criticism), this book doesn’t lend itself to a great deal of disagreement or debate. What it’s communicating is all pretty much there on the surface, so the discussion may have been a little bit less nuanced than usual regardless of the size of the group.
So, what did we actually think? Basically, that “Microserfs” painted a largely fair, not-necessarily-flattering picture of not only a certain, caricature-ish lifestyle but tech culture more broadly. Oddly enough, despite its being a comedic, epistolary novel, the read didn’t feel entirely unlike some of the non-fiction reads we’ve covered in Book Club (such as “Burn Book” and “Disrupted”). All three cast a critical eye on a culture that they view as some combination of alien and (almost paradoxically) mundane and thrilling.
What’s begun to strike yours truly as we plow through more books in the tech/startup space is that the people bothering to write about it seem to see something profoundly wrong with it. These books have their amusing bits and can even be inspiring in stretches. But taken all together they start to feel like warnings that modern tech culture may be draining us of, I don’t know, humanity or something.
3/5 stars
Notable Quotes
- “… if Surrealism was around today, it’d last ten minutes and be stolen by ad agencies to sell long-distance calls and aerosol cheese products.”
- Editor’s take: Queue that Verizon ad that unravels “Starry Night” brush strokes into tendrils between people with soft-spoken voiceover about how we’re all interconnected on one 5G network*
- “Trying to find money through venture capital is a long, evil, conflictual process full of hype and hope.”
- Editor’s take: Figured some of you founders might appreciate this one.
- “Fate hands you opportunities for a while, and if you don’t take them, Fate says to itself, ‘Oh I see—this person doesn’t like opportunities,’ and stops giving them to you.”
- Editor’s take: Wisdom!
- “I had no idea what to say. So I listened, which is often the best idea.”
- Editor’s take: More wisdom! Possibly relevant to those who think a two-block journey along a familiar sidewalk is grounds for a what-it-tought-me LinkedIn essay!
*This doesn’t exist, but you probably bought it, which is kind of the point.
What’s Next For Book Club
Next Book: “But What If We’re Wrong” by Chuck Klosterman
Next Meeting: Friday, December 12th at the GrepBeat HQ in Durham. Let us know you’re coming!
Some Comments: I’m putting myself out there with this one. It’s one of my favorite books, and one I’m very confident will spark some great Book Club discussion. “But What If We’re Wrong” is not a tech or startup book, but rather one that is designed to make us think in new ways about the culture and art of our time. Is it, as one critic described it, “pop philosophy?” Sure. But in the hands of an extremely capable (if intellectually bizarre) author, that makes for a very fun read.
The synopsis, per Bookshop.org: But What If We’re Wrong? is a book of original, reported, interconnected pieces, which speculate on the likelihood that many universally accepted, deeply ingrained cultural and scientific beliefs will someday seem absurd. Covering a spectrum of objective and subjective topics, the book attempts to visualize present-day society the way it will be viewed in a distant future.
Klosterman cites original interviews with a wide variety of thinkers and experts—including George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Alex Ross, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Dan Carlin, Nick Bostrom, and Richard Linklater. Klosterman asks straightforward questions that are profound in their simplicity, and the answers he explores and integrates with his own analysis generate the most thought-provoking and propulsive book of his career.
