The religious foundation of Silicon Valley is not a minor point in "The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce." It's both the point and the punchline — the pie in the face of the people who think they live in the center of the universe because they live in New York City or Boston or some place like that... and, as Wolfe likes to say, have no idea. But then Wolfe makes this point in all his books, in all his stories. The people who think they live in the center of the universe never do unless they live in a universe of their own invention. People in New York City never have any idea, in the same way teenaged girls always have loamy loins. What makes "Tinkerings" so interesting, however, is that he makes this point without trying to distract you from it... and so thirty years down the road the story feels like a test of some kind, or a bet that Wolfe placed on the future, as his going-away present. It's not the story of a reporter who simply wants to "get it right," in terms of detail and atmosphere; it's the story of a writer who wants to beright, in terms of his thoughts and ideas — in terms of his holy consuming vision.
