The secret center of the world

My review of Theo Baker’s new book, reporting from the heart of Silicon Valley and his very turbulent freshman year

In every age, there is some place that epitomizes power. As I argue in my New York Times review of Theo Baker’s terrific debut, “How to Rule the World,” a shadowy, secretive Stanford-inside-Stanford may qualify as that place for our time:

“If America is the most powerful country on earth, and Silicon Valley the most powerful place in that country, and St…