Notes on Infinity

A Novel

By Austin Taylor
Cover of "Notes on Infinity" by Austin Taylor, features an orange infinity symbol with black text overlaid.
Title: Notes on Infinity
Author: Austin Taylor
ISBN: 9781250376107
ON SALE: 06/03/2025

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ISBN: 9781250376107
ISBN: 9781250376114
ISBN: 9781250401724
Hardcover

A singular, extraordinary debut about Zoe and Jack, Harvard students who find themselves propelled into the intoxicating biotech startup world when they announce they’ve discovered the cure for aging. A different kind of love story where the thirst for achievement consumes and the stakes are forever.

Zoe, the daughter of an MIT professor who grew up in her brother’s shadow, can envision her future anew at Harvard. Jack, a boy in Zoe’s organic chemistry class with unruly hair and a gleam of competitiveness, matches her intellect and curiosity with every breath. When Jack refers Zoe for a position in a prestigious professor’s lab, the two become entwined as colleagues, staying up late to discuss scientific ideas. They find themselves on the cusp of a breakthrough: the promise of immortality through a novel antiaging drug.

Zoe and Jack set off on their new project in secret. Finding encouraging results, they bring their work to an investor, drop out of Harvard, and form a startup. But after the money, the magazine covers, and the national news stories detailing their success, Zoe and Jack receive a startling accusation that threatens to destroy both the company they built and their partnership.

A captivating novel about young love, the allure of immortality, and the recklessness that can come with early success, Notes on Infinity asks: How far would you go to achieve your dreams?

Austin Taylor Credit - Maryam Hiradfar
Austin Taylor graduated from Harvard University in 2021 with a joint degree in chemistry and English. Notes on Infinity is inspired in part by her undergraduate studies, peers, and lab work in Harvard’s chemistry department. She has also worked as a public speaking coach and in science policy. Austin is a private pilot, a registered Maine guide, and a bassist. She grew up in central Maine, where she now lives and writes.

Praise for Austin Taylor

"With a trajectory that echoes that of Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos, Taylor's debut provides an insider's glimpse into the high-stakes Ivy League climate and the potentially devastating personal consequences for those caught up in ambition beyond their abilities."

Booklist

"A convincing portrayal of the hothouse collegiate environment in the sciences by an author with exciting potential."

Kirkus

“As ambitious, intelligent, and dazzling as its characters, Notes on Infinity had me in its thrall from start to finish. A transporting smart kids campus novel and love story that examines contemporary startup culture from a tough female perspective—I will be recommending this one widely. I devoured it.”

Emma Knight
author of The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

Notes on Infinity is a blazing meditation on the pressure cooker of academia, the price of fame in the digital age, and how far is too far to go for a chance at corporeal--or scientific--immortality.”

Shelf Awareness

"Taylor thrills with her crackling and science-heavy depiction of the hothouse startup and its founders’ dizzying ascent into the spotlight.... readers will race through the pages to see what happens next. This is a winner.”

Publishers Weekly

“The best of books: one I could not put down while also, simultaneously, wishing it was truly infinite. A perfectly realized novel with crystalline characters and a palpable sense of time, historically and of the characters' lives. Austin Taylor's ability to tell a story is superb and Notes on Infinity is a reading experience to savor.”

Lottie Hazell
author of Piglet
Two compact discs (CDs) with shiny, reflective surfaces are overlapping each other on a white background. The discs display a spectrum of colors due to the light reflection, creating a rainbow-like effect.

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