This past June, mysterious packages containing copies of a slim, anonymously written book were sent to dozens of people who work in or write about the technology industry.

The story, titled “Iterating Grace,” was a satire about a Silicon Valley programmer named Koons Crooks, who has a spiritual awakening that leads him on a pilgrimage to a volcano in Bolivia. Living in a yurt, he spends his days pondering the transcendent wisdom of tweets by top venture capitalists before apparently being trampled to death by vicuñas.

He leaves behind scattered writing, including lovingly handwritten reproductions of tweets from the real feeds of some of Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors, including Brad Feld (“Reminder to self: Not happy with game? Change the game”) and Paul Graham (“If you try to outlaw the future it will just happen somewhere else”).

Recipients of the book, including venture capitalists and prominent journalists who cover the technology industry, were baffled. Was this a brilliant viral marketing scheme, a literary treasure hunt orchestrated by some corporation angling for free publicity to promote a new energy drink or video game? Or was it a purely artistic endeavor, aimed at stimulating a discussion about how the tech boom has altered our culture, economy and society?