This expanded Second Edition of the book was published on May 27, 2011 and has 12 new chapters.
This humorous photo-book follows one man's journey through United States as he ventures from Silicon Valley to Seattle, San Francisco to San Diego in a quest for his dream job and his search for a place he could call home.
The book starts in 1987, at University of California campus in Davis, where it all began, where Artificial Imagination was conceived. We then fast forward by 15 years to 2002. Our main character, a Executive in the Software industry and working in Silicon Valley. Soon, he is heading to Seattle to work for Amazon.com at a lower level management position.
We read one lively story after another about the life in the Northwest and learn about his lovely wife and two daughters.
Our adventurer then heads to Nashville to work for a software company, and finally returns to California, when he gets caught in the infamous wild fires of 2007. Kudos to the author to be able to find humor in the middle of the Inferno!
A Review by John Lehman,the author of Everything is changing A Review by John Lehman,the author of Everything is changing
I was half way through this book when I realized it is almost poetry in the form of prose. I am not just referring to the short paragraphs, but the imaginative leaps, stunning imagery and most importantly, words which hook us in, make us think this is our story . . . . We see them on the page but live them in the theater of our imagination.
This book reminds us that we share the mysteries of the human mind and soul, no matter what our occupation, no matter where we were born. "Why I am here may appear to be a simple question, but . . . is there a deeper purpose of being where we are?" We know that the question applies not only to the location where we spend our lives, but also to overall existence, and our place in the time continuum.
Just as the author who traveled from New Delhi to Silicon Valley felt he has traveled forty years into the future, so do I, sitting in the agricultural landscape of Wisconsin felt that I have had a glimpse into the vitality of the Hi-Tech worlds of California and Seattle.
I feel I am in the hands of a good guide. Here is what it means to do research in Computers: "Rip apart an electronic system and you see nothing moving, nothing vibrating, it's almost a make-believe world, a child's fantasy, a writer's imagination."
and what it means to yearn for acceptance:
"I looked at Seattle's glistening skyline on one side and its beautiful waterfront on the other and asked it the same questions I had asked San Francisco 16 years ago: will it accept me? Or will its people treat me as someone different, not one of the? And will I accept it, call it my home? Right then, she appeared from no where, as if the city had sent her to answer my questions . . ."
I loved the section addressing Seattle's slacker sun, that comes late to work, like at 9 AM and goes back home at 4, the observation that for males, until the age eight, we want every young woman to be our mother, then for the next thirty years our friend and when we have daughters, we feel like bringing every young woman a glass of warm milk and cookies.
His first day in Nashville, the author looks out of his window and sees snow. The conclusion he draws about the snow flakes very fittingly describes his life and the message we can take with us from this hip, funny, poignant, beautiful book:
"the snowflakes descend slowly, floating in the air, allowing the current to carry them with it, letting it change their paths. They have chosen not to confront their destiny, choosing instead to enjoy every second of their short lives, their journey to the ground."
Welcome home, Kalpanik!
John Lehman, author of Everything is Changing
Kalpanik S. is the pen name for an executive in software industry. He came to USA 20 years ago as a graduate student to study and do research in Computer Engineering on a fellowship.
After obtaining his Master's degree, Kalpanik spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley, working for both large Corporations such as Oracle Corporation and PeopleSoft and small startups companies including a dot-com.
The technology industry's infamous bust early 21st century took him to Seattle, where he worked for a famous eCommerce company. He could not get used to the gray skies of Seattle, so his journey took to Tennessee and eventually back to California, but Southern California this time.
Having traveled through and lived in so many interesting places, it was only natural for Kalpanik to document his journey as books.
His sense of humor and somewhat experimental style of writing, where he mixes concepts from science, philosophy and literature in an "unexpected" style and surprises the reader is loved by his fans.
