Terraform, June 08, 2015

“The Last Museum” by Paul Ford

Reviewed by Eric Kimminau

I just finished re-reading “The Last Museum” by Paul Ford for the third time. It took three times because I am old and I haven’t taken this many mental trips in a single session since I was a lot younger and exploring chemical science. But I digress. Lots of references to places and things that most will have no idea what they are or what they reference are included here. I kept thinking I wished each of the items had hyperlinks so I could follow them to find out more about the reference. Made me remember the days of wandering the SGI campus (now the Google campus) in Mountain View where all the electrical boxes were painted different colors and being at the opening of the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. As you careen through the story wondering/wandering how you can begin at a story related to Steve Jobs, pass through digital trends in biometric interfaces and self driving vehicles (I had to go here because the drawing looks like the Google car) before ending in a future that becomes instantly outdated I found myself pleasantly surprised that I‘d reached the end as well as surprised at how dystopian the world of my children could be. Thank you, Google, for helping me write this review.

Eric Kimminau is a BBS geek turned IT professional for a Fortune 10 global IT company. He spent lots of time wandering Silicon Valley in the 90s.