Years ago when I was living in the Bay Area, Tom Wolfe was hanging around doing research for a book on Silicon Valley. The rumour was that he left with the opinion that nothing interesting worth writing about happened there.
He wrote a pretty interesting profile of Robert Noyce, one of the co-founders of Intel https://web.stanford.edu/class/e145/2007_fall/materials/noyc...
Thank you, I had read that before and lost track of the authorship when I wanted to share with a colleague.
This is the single most elucidating thing written about the cultural matrix of Silicon Valley.
I remember discovering "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" in my high school library. I eventually stole it by taking out the plastic-encased metal security dingy and devoured it more. I read it over and over until the paperback fell apart. It introduced me to a world so foreign and sparkly and rusty dangerous and yet so real. RIP Tom Wolfe for bringing us into your worlds of observation and intrigue.
The way you speak about that book reminds me of my equally teenage love of Kerouac (Might be a virtual right of passage for my age range). I got in well enough with the small Ontario town high school librarian to gain access to the “banned books” they stowed in the back but never disposed of. Wolfe lived back there as well as a number of notable Canadian and American poets. I hope I don’t sound too assuming when I sa…
Just to chime in: Although I'm a big reader, I finally got to Kerouac when I was married and in my 30s. It simply did not click by the time I was that old! I agree that you have to hit it at the right time in your life - not necessarily a numerical age, of course.
His daughter, Alexandra Wolfe, did write a book about SV called "Valley of the Gods": https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Gods-Silicon-Story/dp/15011470... I haven't read it, but I subscribe to author Ryan Holiday's reading list email newsletter and he had this to say when the book came out: "A nice new read about the Silicon Valley written by Wall Street Journal reporter (and Tom Wolfe's daughter). It's more pleasant and…
> Anyway, some great sentences in this book. Not sure how it will stand up over time but was worth a couple hours of my time. I'm not familiar with Ryan Holiday's work, but this almost sounds like a backhanded compliment, especially when you consider how long (and much work) it takes to write a passable book. It's no longer about Alexandra's book; it's about Ryan's tight schedule.
It doesn't really read like it's meant to be praise or a compliment the same way, "eh, it was okay, but I wasn't blown away by it," isn't necessarily a compliment--a statement which I think is probably an accurate "synonym" to his original statement.
Sad day! For, those who want to spend time at work to reminiscence here are some links I found interesting: * "How Tom Wolfe Became … Tom Wolfe", a good profile from Vanity Fair , 2015: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/how-tom-wolfe-bec... * "Tom Wolfe", an early profile one year after the Kool Aid Test had been published, from The Harvard Crimson , 1969: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1969/5/8/tom-wolf…
Thanks for these links. How did you get a free version of the Paris Review İnterview? A couple of days ago I tried to read some interviews and it won't let me without a subscription.
Sad day! For, those who want to spend time at work to reminiscence here are some links I found interesting: * "How Tom Wolfe Became … Tom Wolfe", a good profile from Vanity Fair , 2015: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/10/how-tom-wolfe-bec... * "Tom Wolfe", an early profile one year after the Kool Aid Test had been published, from The Harvard Crimson , 1969: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1969/5/8/tom-wolf…
Thanks for these links. How did you get a free version of the Paris Review İnterview? A couple of days ago I tried to read some interviews and it won't let me without a subscription.
I see this link is locked too. İt asks for a subscription.
I write a blog in Turkish. I write about current affairs and also other subjects that interests me. Once in a while I fall into Ecclesiastes type of borderline nihilism and I say to myself "Why write at all; all is vain; all is for naught." Then I stop writing for a while. I reason that writing is academic; it is useless. It changes nothing. It is so much better to do something useful like programming or building something and selling it. But now after reading the comments here I see that Tom Wolfe's writing changed so many people's life! In a positive way. Of course, it's a different thing that one needs to write well at that level. But it seems that writing is not that useless after all.