Friday, July 25, 2014

Book Review and #Giveaway: The Infinity Program by Richard H. Hardy



                                         

  • Publisher: Camel Press (April 1, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • Hardcover or Kindle: 250 pages
Jon Graeme and Harry Sale are unlikely friends. Harry is a world-class programmer, but his abrasive personality alienates co-workers. In contrast, Jon is a handsome and easy-going technical writer, the low man on the IT totem pole. Sharing a love of nature, the men set out together, planning to go their separate ways—Jon on a hike and Harry, fly fishing. Three days later, Jon arrives at the rendezvous point, but his friend is nowhere in sight. When Jon finds Harry unconscious on the floor of a cave, Harry claims to have been lying there the entire time. But he is neither cold nor hungry. What Jon doesn’t know is that Harry fell into an underground cavern, where he came into contact with an alien quantum computer. Back at work, Harry jettisons his regular tasks and concentrates exclusively on inventing new operating language to access the alien system. In the process he crashes his office’s Super Computer and is fired. Jon convinces the company to give Harry a second chance, arguing that the system he has invented will make them millions. Jon has no idea what havoc Harry is about to unleash.

My Review:  While I am not an IT professional and there was often use of IT jargon I wasn't familiar with, I still understood the storyline.  I found the storyline highly entertaining and was able to finish this book quickly, and left wanting more.  I liked the multiple different plot twists going on and the quirkiness of Harry in contrast to Jons' normalcy.  I have met individuals with similar personalities to Harry and while difficult at times these people often do have superior focus on what they are doing in my opinion.  Richard captured this personality type perfectly.  I look forward to the next novel!

I would rate this novel 3 out of 5 for content.

About the Author: Richard H. Hardy

I worked for an IT company for twenty-six years.  When I first started, the CEO of the company warned me about the programmers, "Watch out for these guys.  They're the orneriest bunch of people in the world!"

While there was some truth in what he said, I soon learned that I not only respected the programmers, I liked them too!  I saw them blow up and walk out the door over a point of logic and react to criticism like a mother who had just been told that she had an ugly baby. I saw them working 36 hours straight, absolutely ecstatic when they had a breakthrough, or banging their heads against their desks when they failed.  They were passionate, intense, and larger than life.

I decided to write a novel about people like these.  Not the same people, but imaginary characters filled with intense passion and bubbling over with that odd mix of logic and irrationality.  I called the book The Infinity Program.  It was published by the Camel Press on April 1, 2014.  It's about a systems programmer who meets his ultimate challenge when he encounters a sixty million year old alien information system.


Looking to buy a copy for yourself?  Check out Richard's website!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


All opinions are 100% my own and not influenced in anyway.  I received a book for purpose of review and was not compensated for this post.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for featuring The Infinity Program. And many thanks for your very interesting and insightful review! - Richard Hardy

Teddy Rose said...

Thanks for taking part in the tour. I'm glad you found 'The Infinity Program' entertaining.

Margie said...

I'm currently reading The Goldfinch and it will probably be my favorite summer read.
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