Automatic Noodle

 Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (2025), 163 pages

There is a lot to unpack in this short book. It is hard to even know where to begin, but I very much enjoyed the concept. A group of restaurant service robots in the not-so-distant future find themselves abandoned by their owners. They decide to take their future into their own hands and re-open the restaurant, but with better food. And they succeed! Except, as in real-life, there are those who want to spoil a good thing through their own xenophobia and biases. This is a thought-provoking look into the future of technology while also touching upon current day issues of immigration, economics, and resilience.

Interstellar Megachef

Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan, 400 pages

Saras made a name for herself as a big shot chef on Earth before she snuck off the planet with an invite to be the first Earth-born contestant participate in Interstellar Megachef, a competitive cooking show that asks creative chefs to push the bounds of molecular gastronomy while also pleasing some particularly snooty and critical famous foodies. Given that Earth is the only place still primitive enough to use large pieces of meat and actual fire to cook, Saras has an uphill battle ahead of her. Meanwhile, tech prodigy Serenity Ko is searching for a follow-up innovation to her immersive SoundScape tech, while also getting massively intoxicated whenever she can. When she's forced to take a break to dry out, Serenity gets the bright idea to create simulated flavors, and somehow ends up working with Saras on the project.

This is a really interesting way to look at the future of space exploration and colonization and the attitudes toward our home world that may come with it. While it doesn't take itself too seriously, there's still a lot of commentary on imperialism and microaggressions, balanced with a hearty (and well deserved) dig at food snobbery. This book sets up a series, which I will happily read when it comes out.

Hum

Hum by Helen Phillips, 272 pages

This was my second time reading this thought-provoking science fiction meditation on AI, motherhood, invasive technology, and the socioeconomic woes of trying to balance all of those things when you've gotten fired from a job you inadvertently helped make obsolete. My thoughts from my first read haven't changed — this book is still amazing and an incredible example of how science fiction can make us consider the world around us. I can't wait to discuss this with the Orcs & Aliens on Monday!

MOOD MACHINE

Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly, 288 pgs. © 2025

This was a great book, lots of in-depth reporting and reminiscent of Naomi Kline's writing style--Mood Machine dives headfirst into the the machinations of Spotify to disrupt the music industry--and to extract wealth from it. We've all heard that Spotify doesn't pay artists enough, and in some cases they don't bother paying them at all. But that's only the start of it--for the last decade Spotify has struggled and connived it's way to the top of the music streaming food chain by encouraging artists to create similar music that is popular or tending on the app--resulting in a "flattening" of the culture. While Pelly doesn't explicitly uncover any actual criminality, she does call for government agencies to shine lights into this organization and asks the reader what kind of streaming service would be better for everyone involved. She paints a damning portrait of yet another tech-bro company run-amok that cares little about how it affects creatives, artists and even paying subscribers. The wealthy have turned streaming music into an asset class to be used to generate even more income, leaving actual songwriters with even less. Other music streaming companies are just as complicit but Spotify stands out because it's essentially an advertising company masquerading as a music streaming company. I really wasn't using Spotify before and I definitely won't now. 

Superbloom

 Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart by Nicholad Carr, © 2025, 272 pgs. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I loved everything about this book. Nicholas Carr takes the title from a 2023 news story about a canyon in California that experiences a surprise 'superbloom' of poppies, due to excessive moisture in the region. The natural phenomenon turns into chaos, as hordes of influencers descend upon the canyon, take selfies and trample flowers, ultimately causing authorities to limit access to the area--and finally causing blowback on the influencers for the stunt in the first place. Carr asks--if communication technologies are typically viewed as something to democratize mass media, thereby making us more free, more safe and more connected--then why is the opposite happening? Why are we separating from our loved ones over culture, why are kids becoming screen-zombies, and why can't our politicians actually connect on solving issues? Carr takes us on a well-researched look back into the beginnings of communication tech and how we got to now. This is practically a philosophical treatise on the inequities of digital communication and how, in the internet's current version, it's tearing apart the fabric of society one thread at a time. There is much to learn here and the prose is thoughtful without being overwrought. My favorite line, in reference to the allure of social media: "Poppies are lush, vibrant, and entrancing. They're also garish, invasive, and narcotic." A must read for anyone who's questioned why our society has gone mad. 

Bury Your Gays

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle, 294 pages

It's a longstanding Hollywood trope that LGBTQ characters don't get happy endings. So when the suits at the studio behind Misha's long-running TV show tell him to either cut the queer storyline or kill off the characters, Misha's disappointed, but not particularly surprised. However, Misha also has an Oscar nomination, which gives him a bit more leverage (just a bit though, as it's for live action short, not one of the big categories). Or so he thinks. But before long, the monsters from Misha's horror movies are coming to life and stalking him, and Misha's trying to save not just his beloved show but also himself and his friends. There is definitely something strange afoot...

Somehow this horror novel manages to have complex relatable characters, skewer the entertainment industry, and comment on the threats of emerging technology while being truly scary and also funny? I don't know how Tingle managed to swing it, but this is quite the feat, and I absolutely loved it.

Viewfinder

Viewfinder: A Memoir of Seeing and Being Seen by Jon M. Chu (2024) 304 pages

I've seen the movies Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights that were directed by Jon M. Chu. And I'm very excited for the musical film of Wicked, the first part of which will be released this year with the second part next year. Jon is now in his 40s and the memoir covers his life so far with clear introspective eyes. He grew up in Silicon Valley with his parents running a local Chinese restaurant. He got into being an entertainer and maker of videos in his teen years. He studied film at USC. He talks a lot about his heroes Spielberg and Steve Jobs and the relationship between tech in Silicon Valley with Hollywood's long history. Straight out of college he has a lot of potential, but his film career seems to stall. He ends up making several sequels and a couple music documentary projects. It is through exploring his parents' story of coming to America that he decides he should be more selective in the stories he brings to movie screens. He offers tips and lessons for others considering a career in filmmaking. Despite the rise of Netflix disrupting Hollywood and the pandemic he finds beauty and hope to continue forward.
 

Micro

 Micro by Michael Crichton with Richard Preston (2011, 563 pages)

As I read more Michael Crichton, I realize some parts of the story are predictable. His characters are a little flat, and he clearly has a problem with greedy authority. But his science is incredible.

A group of graduate students are lured to a biotech company, Nanigen Microtechnologies, in Hawaii, with the idea of potentially hiring them out of grad school. It seems too good to be true. The students are shown incredible micro-computer technology they didn't even think possible.

Unfortunately, the horrors of the Hawaiian jungle are closer than they thought. Thankfully, they're biology students and can use their knowledge of flora and fauna to navigate. But knowledge can only get you so far when hostile ants are bigger than you, spider webs aren't easily shaken off, and hawks fly above.

It actually gets pretty scary at times -- the small things creeping around the Hawaiian jungle that pose no threat to us at our size, are terrifying and deadly at micro-human size.

Would have been four or five stars for great sci-fi, but lost stars for characters. If you liked Jurassic Park, you'll probably like the concepts in this book!

★★★☆☆

Hum

Hum by Helen Phillips, 272 pages

May has lost her job to the artificial intelligence that she helped create, and forced with late bills and the increasing cost of living, she agrees to undergo a controversial surgery that will change her features just enough to make her invisible to facial recognition programs — and she'll get paid enough to do it to cover the bills for a while. When she gets paid, May decides to splurge on a couple of nights in the botanical garden, a walled, nature-filled resort that she would never have been able to afford otherwise. To fully appreciate the nature, however, she asks her husband and two children to be completely unplugged while they're on the short vacation — which starts out OK, but takes a disastrous turn when the kids wander off on their own.

It's not clear from the book when or where this story takes place, but while there is a bit more technology than we have today (the titular hums, for example, are humanoid AI robots), the prevalence of surveillance technology and the monetization of EVERYTHING seems disturbingly similar to what we're seeing today. May's experiences throughout the book (especially after the trip to the garden) are scarily relatable, and through her actions and reactions, Hum offers a meditation on technology and what it means to be a good mother. A fantastic, thought-provoking book, and I can't wait to recommend it widely.

*This book will be published Aug. 6, 2024.

The Future

The Future by Naomi Alderman, 415 pages

In the near future, three tech billionaires have determined that when the apocalypse inevitably brings the end of civilization, the three of them should be saved to help reboot the world. (They have the brains and inclinations to do so after all.) Their super-secret warning system, their network of secret bunkers, and years of preparation make them sure that they and their chosen companions will be able to survive the end of times, no matter what sort of disaster it is. Meanwhile, internet-famous survivalist Lai Zhen is fleeing from an assassin in Singapore when her wearable tech starts offering her guidance to escape, revealing a mysterious bit of software that seems to be able to predict the future. And then there's Martha Einkorn, a woman who grew up in an apocalypse cult led by her father and ended up as the assistant to one of the aforementioned tech billionaires. From her place near the head of a social media empire, Martha can see that the parables she learned throughout her childhood are becoming truer and truer, and she's no longer sure how far off her father's prophecies are.

In a lot of ways, this book is almost too realistic — the tech billionaires intent on saving themselves, the data-mining capabilities of the online lives we live, even the online survivalists forums ring VERY true to today's world. But Alderman pushes things a bit farther, and I mean that in a very good way. This is a fast-paced, compelling novel with complex characters and ideas, but one that makes you think HARD about the present and the future. I have very few quibbles with the book (and none that I can discuss here, as they're major spoilers), but even with those, I'm confident in saying this is one of the best books I've read this year. Fantastic read.

Sourdough

Sourdough by Robin Sloan, 352 pages

Lois Clary is a programmer at a Silicon Valley company that is creating giant robotic arms to do the work of humans (think stirring and putting things together) when she receives the gift of a sourdough starter from a pair of brothers who only know her as the lady who always orders spicy soup from them. Lois knows nothing about baking, but takes the gift and decides to give it a whirl, quickly learning that this sourdough starter is not normal. She's soon swallowed up into a world of strange food, an even stranger farmers market, and research into the brothers' enigmatic ethnicity.

I read this book when it first came out in 2017 and remembered loving it. I was pleasantly surprised that this is still the case today. It's clever and weird and, oddly, not the only book in my collection featuring a sentient sourdough starter. While many strange things in this book are truly fictitious (though wouldn't Lembas be cool to have in real life? For hiking purposes alone...), the Lois Club is absolutely real, which is completely delightful. A fantastic book about food, technology, and what makes us really alive.

By the way, the edition of the book I have includes a bonus story, "The Suitcase Clone," which is tangentially related to Sourdough. It was equally captivating, and I'd love it if Sloan expanded it into his next book.

Last bit: see those bright yellow spots on the cover? Yeah, they glow in the dark.

We Are Satellites

We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker, 381 pages

It was my second time reading through this in-depth fictional examination of the ways in which technology impacts our lives and our relationships, and I agree with what I already wrote in my previous blog post (go here to see it): it's fascinating, captivating, and highly accessible to the non-SF reader. Here's hoping tonight's Orcs & Aliens group agrees with me!

The innovation delusion

 

The Innovation Delusion: How our obsession with the new has disrupted the work that matters most / Lee Vinsel and Andrew L. Russell, 260 pgs.

This books starts with an example of a series of explosions that rocked St. John, a Canadian town.  The culprit was a gas leak that had filled area buildings with vapor.  The buildings were badly damaged but one remained standing with no damage. How?  Well, seems like someone in that building did regular maintenance.  Pouring water in the basement drain regularly and not letting it dry out, meant the gas vapor was blocked and thus there was no build up to eventually explode.  With a lead up like that, you get what you expect...a book all about the real work that gets done by maintainers.  Sure, everyone wants to build and invent but nothing lasts or works well without maintenance.  So lets give the maintainers their due. The authors have done a lot of research and make a case for why innovation is not the key to everything. It is hard not to agree after looking around and seeing the state of our infrastructure.  

This Thing Between Us

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno, 258 pages

After weeks in a coma, Thiago's wife, Vera, died from injuries sustained in very public and politically charged incident at a local Metra station. Thiago's naturally having trouble managing his grief, though the odd behavior of his Alexa-like Itza certainly isn't helping, as the last thing Thiago needs is a device randomly ordering things to his house and reminding him of his late wife.

Full of grief, anger, confusion, and technological horror, This Thing Between Us is propulsive and does not let up. It took me very little time to read this book, and I imagine it'll be haunting me for quite some time to come.

We Are Satellites

We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker, 381 pages

In the not-too-distant future, a new technology is available to help people better multitask. It's called a Pilot, and it requires brain surgery to get the glowing piece of equipment working. When teenager David asks his moms for one, he's pretty sure it will help him get a leg up in school, where he's quickly falling behind to his Piloted peers. While one mother is game, the other is a bit of a luddite, particularly when it comes to anything brain-related, as David's younger sister Sophie has epilepsy and is ineligible for Pilots because of her condition. The novel follows the family over the course of several years, exploring the way that this ubiquitous technology changes their individual lives, their relationships to one another, and society at large.

This is a fascinating examination of the ways that technology impacts our lives and our perception of privacy, as well as a multitude of flaws in the health care system. I was absolutely captivated by this story, which, yes, is firmly science fiction, but is also so accessible and intriguing to a non-SF reader. Highly recommended.

The Municipalists

The Municipalists by Seth Fried, 264 pages

Henry is a civil planning bureaucrat at the U.S. Municipal Survey, happily writing up proposals and filing paperwork detailing his implementation of waste-cutting measures for cities across the country. But when the USMS headquarters' operating system cuts out at the same time that USMS drones begin dropping from the sky above Metropolis and the USMS agent in charge of Metropolis goes missing, Henry is sent into the field to figure out what's gone wrong in this too-much-of-a-coincidence situation in Metropolis. He's not sent alone, however: the USMS operating system, OWEN, has been given a personality and a projection that will accompany Henry on his mission, providing data and access whenever needed.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but what it is is a buddy copy/action story between the too-serious Henry and an alcoholic, shape-shifting operating system that loves classic movies and faints at the sight of blood. It felt more like I was reading a movie recap than a novel. I'd definitely watch the movie, though I don't know that I'd read the book again.

The Glitch

The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen, 358 pages

Twenty years after being struck by lightning, Shelley Stone is living her best life as CEO of Conch, a company that's creating the newest wearable tech — a small, unobtrusive device that acts as a personal assistant, making suggestions, managing schedules, recognizing the music you're humming, etc. But when Shelley and her family takes a vacation to France, her carefully constructed world begins to crack, starting with the disappearance, and odd reappearance, of her 4-year-old daughter.

This is a fantastic tale of the sacrifices that come with trying to have it all as a powerful woman, and Cohen has created a great character in Shelley, a woman who would probably become a robot if the opportunity presented itself (at one point, she explains that 3:30 a.m. is her "me time," a time for her to catch up on emails and world business news while she runs some relaxing 7-minute miles on the treadmill). Yes, it exaggerates the lengths to which women are expected to stretch themselves to be successful in business and as mothers, but only by a little bit. I loved this book.

Sophia of Silicon Valley

Sophia of Silicon Valley by Anna Yen, 349 pages

Twenty-something Anna Young is working hard...to find a husband. Yes, she has a degree in finance, and works hard at her successive jobs in banking, law, and technology, but her goal is to find a rich guy to marry so she can move out of her parents' house. Or at least she thinks that's her goal. Everything changes after she goes to work for startup animation company Treehouse, where she's tasked with managing investors and her prickly tech-genius boss Scott Kraft. Suddenly, she's becoming confident and working hard at a job that she enjoys, despite its many challenges.

While she doesn't spell it out, Yen's debut novel obviously has parallels to her life working for Pixar, Tesla, and founding various tech startups. Quince computers, Treehouse and Scott Kraft are thinly veiled stand-ins for Apple, Pixar and Steve Jobs, while Ion and Andre Stark closely parallel Tesla and Elon Musk. That said, it's a great professional coming-of-age book, and given the main character, one that's sorely needed.

Soonish

Soonish:  Ten emerging technologies that'll improve and/or ruin everything / Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, 358 pgs.

Smart and funny, this book examines ten technologies that are already here but could be used in new ways.  The authors do a great job of discussing the pros and cons of each in a way that is informative and engaging.  Their light touch does wonders helping you understand what is possible and what could go wrong.  So the future is bright! or perhaps we are doomed.  Too early to tell. 

Life in code

Life in code: a personal history of technology / Ellen Ullman, 306 pgs.

Kind of a memoir, this series of essays by a woman who worked as a software engineer/programmer, is a thoughtful look at her experiences in the tech business, in life with meditations on society. Ullman has a way with words, I found myself re-reading many passages because of what I was learning and how well she was communicating.  Nothing here comes across as nerdy, in fact, the opposite seems more likely.  And, although she talks some about the dominance of white and Asian guys in tech, this isn't a mediation on inclusion or the struggles of a woman in a male dominated arena.  Ullman doesn't have time for small topics, here she seems to be explaining bigger things and doing it well.