Sourdough by Robin Sloan

SOURDOUGH by Robin Sloan is surprisingly one of my favorite reads of the summer. It’s about an overworked young programmer, Lois, who finds her passion – baking bread - and transforms her life and the life of others. SOURDOUGH is slow at times, but it has stayed with me due primarily to its endearing protagonist and its many humorous elements.  Initially, Lois has little life outside of working at General Dexterity in the Bay Area.  Her poor sleeping and eating habits gradually improve due to a mysterious local take-out’s soup and bread.  Sadly, the chef and his deliveryman brother run into visa issues and leave their “number one eater” (Lois) a yeasty sourdough starter and special ethnic music. Lois soon learns to bake bread, construct an oven, and even experiments with programming a robot to break eggs. This is a fun read about the possibility of following your dreams (even if you do not realize that is happening) from Robin Sloan, the author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, an Alex Award winner.

A very interesting juxtaposition would be to have a group read the fictional SOURDOUGH (featuring its robot character and almost magical biological substance) and also LIFE 3.0 by Max Tegmark which is non-fiction, dealing with the dangers of super intelligence and AI. 

Tegmark, a professor of physics at MIT, argues that the most important conversation of our time is about the future of AI and he quotes numerous experts in his text.  Tegmark also makes good use of charts and visuals to explain his thinking, saying “the goal of the book is to help you join this conversation.”  There is quite a bit of background material to sift through, however, and his explanations were sometimes quite dry or even a bit condescending given the topic. A review in August 29th’s Wall Street Journal notes that LIFE 3.0 is likely to be controversial, with the bulk devoted to “how things could go wrong.” I agree that this is an extremely important issue, but it is a little unclear who Tegmark’s target audience is for this disturbing forecast.

Honestly, I felt that SOURDOUGH opened my mind more to the possibility of using robots and made me feel genuinely excited about the near-term future. I also want to learn more about Vivek Wadhwa and his book, The Driver in the Driverless Car, just featured on the PBS NewsHour.

This is Your Brain on Parasites by Kathleen McAuliffe

This is Your Brain on Parasites: how tiny creatures manipulate our behavior and shape society by Kathleen McAuliffe is a must-read for anyone interested in science, especially nature, microbiology and human behavior.  Originally, I was planning a post with an overview of several new and noteworthy non-fiction books, but This is Your Brain on Parasites is so surprisingly (parasites? our brains?) appealing, it deserves more discussion. 

Author McAuliffe lays out her arguments and then introduces readers to ideas about how parasites might influence hosts’ behavior and their impact throughout the ecosystem and food chains.  From there, it is on a chapter about the “Hitch a Ride” variety with discussion of hairworms making crickets head for water and about how other organisms cause ants to climb grass so as to be more easily eaten by sheep. Subsequent chapters cover possible interactions regarding obesity, emotion and prejudice.  As I read this book, I found myself often looking up, reading a quote and asking those nearby, “Did you know THAT?”   

Not only is this book full of attention-grabbing examples, it is inspirational since McAuliffe also does a wonderful job of introducing the hard-working scientists who have designed and carried out pioneering experiments.  McAuliffe's writing is certainly engaging and accessible for students and she includes extensive endnotes for those wishing to learn more. Look for This is Your Brain on Parasites by Kathleen McAuliffe, another Amazon best book of June 2016, in our new library this Fall.