NNO Book Club: Qualityland

We have been keeping an eye on a non-fiction book about “big data” but apparently everyone else decided to read it too, as most all of the copies are checked out at the library. So, we will pivot and read this fiction selection that seems not too dissimilar in theme.

Maybe you’ve seen that meme about UPS vs FedEx vs USPS vs Amazon vs Facebook? Where Amazon has already snuck into your house and placed your order in your bathroom and Facebook knows you briefly thought about buying a toaster oven yesterday so here are 20 ads for toaster ovens? If you laughed, while crying a little inside – this may the be book for you. This month we are reading “QualityLand” by Marc-Uwe Kling.

Book summary from Goodreads
In the near-future, all decision-making is automated, until one man makes a brazen choice of his own, with global consequences.

Welcome to QualityLand, the best country on Earth. Here, a universal ranking system determines the social advantages and career opportunities of every member of society. An automated matchmaking service knows the best partners for everyone and helps with the break up when your ideal match (frequently) changes. And the foolproof algorithms of the biggest, most successful company in the world, TheShop, know what you want before you do and conveniently deliver to your doorstep before you even order it.

In QualityCity, Peter Jobless is a machine scrapper who can't quite bring himself to destroy the imperfect machines sent his way, and has become the unwitting leader of a band of robotic misfits hidden in his home and workplace. One day, Peter receives a product from TheShop he absolutely, positively knows he does not want, and which he decides, at great personal cost, to return. The only problem: doing so means proving the perfect algorithm of TheShop wrong, calling into question the very foundations of QualityLand itself.

This month's restaurant selection
For this month we will be doing the Tampa location of Metro Diner. We’ve visited this restaurant in the past, though the St. Pete location, and it has a little something for everyone – breakfast, lunch and yes, some diner favorites.

***Not sure about book club or never been to one before? ***
Read the book (or some of the book). Come to the Meetup. Eat yummy food and chat with folks about what you thought about the book. REPEAT!

***Not sure where to get the book? ***
All books we select have a decent number of copies (at least 3-4 across all formats) at both the Hillsborough and Pinellas County Library. And, of course, you can always buy a copy.

Didn’t finish/hated this book?
Come to the Meetup anyway! If you didn't finish - just be aware, there will be spoilers. If you hated it, come and rant! In my experience, the books that generate the best conversations and the books we really love are rarely the same books.