Story Brief

Michael Polansky is remarkably unassuming for someone operating in a corner of the world known for outsize egos. Seated at a leafy patio outside a popular bakery in Mill Valley, an affluent town about 15 miles north of San Francisco, Polansky — bespectacled, his fresh face framed by dark hair shot through with gray — has the look and the friendly demeanor of a young professor.

AI summaries can be wrong sometimes—always verify important details using the source article.