David Ryan is the designer of ELOPe, an email language optimization program, that if successful, will make his career. But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence.
David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda.
©2011, 2012 William Hertling (P)2012 William Hertling
"Avogadro Corp is a tremendous book that every single person needs to read. In the vein of Daniel Suarez's Daemon and Freedom(TM), William's book shows that science fiction is becoming science fact. Avogadro Corp describes issues, in solid technical detail, that we are dealing with today that will impact us by 2015, if not sooner. Not enough people have read these books. It's a problem for them, but not for the [emergent] machines." (Brad Feld, managing directory Foundry Group, co-founder Techstars)
"Highly entertaining, gripping, thought inspiring book. Don't start without the time to finish - it won't let you go.” (Gifford Pinchot III, founder Bainbridge Graduate Institute, author The Intelligent Organization)
"An alarming and jaw-dropping tale about how something as innocuous as email can subvert an entire organization. I found myself reading with a sense of awe, and read it way too late into the night." (Gene Kim, author of Visible Ops)
"Loving it all over again!"
It's rare that I read a book twice, or even listen to a book I've previously read. However, I did it with Avogadro Corp. and I'm loving it all over again! William Hertling's story keeps you turned in. I spend a great deal of time on the road and find audible books are comforting and relaxing....if the stories and characters are well developed, and the reader doesn't distract me from the book. Avogadro Corp. checks all the boxes.
"Short but defintely sweet"
The complexity of the story, and the obvious knowledge of the topic the author has, and carried forward to the story and the characters . Very enjoyable.
The very end. What the hell!!??!!
He did a fine job activating the characters. They resonated well with me, and I am confident it will with you as well.
The end, which moves pretty quick, but is a turn around that caught me off guard.
Not a huge stretch from our current reality. Recommended highly for tech thriller followers, and anyone else who enjoys near future forecast stories.
audiobookaholic
"Diversionary Tactics"
A fun romp through a not-so-distant future in which a thinly-disguised Google goes off the Ruby-On-Rails. Can we code "Do No Evil" into our software? Will artificial intelligence save us or imprison us?
Which human impulse is stronger - hope or fear?
"One session, couldn't stop listening"
Great book, are there any more?
Daniel Suarez Daemon & Freedom
When the guy with all the paper talks with the 2 creators
"Love the plot."
Utterly believable. You will never think the same about your email or computers. Great premise. Unpredictable enough to keep you listening. Narration is a bit weak but acceptable- he could use more emotion and varying of his voice. Character development could go slightly deeper but overall wonderfully original and well crafted.
"Not terrible, but lots of holes."
There were too many holes in a lot of the technology and how the data centers existed. A floating datacenter? Seriously? The logistics of anything like that would be silly. I suspect it was to make them harder to deactivate, but it made it laughable.
Sure - the concept of a social engineering AI was interesting, but the book didn't get into that as much.
Maybe a made-for-TV movie. There wasn't much suspense, and it was a bit formulaic. Nothing overly clever or technical that could confuse anybody.
It's not a bad book, but in this genre, there's a lot better.
serialnumber55
"Ho-Hum"
The plot is contrived, and the twists and turns are predictable. Not a great contribution to the "super computer takes over the world" genre.
Probably not.