Through their love of science and desire for success, Zoe and Jack work together on a new start-up company to produce an anti-ageing drug. This was an incrediblly mature debut about two bright young things who meet at Harvard and pursue their dreams.
As a a non-scientisit, I was a bit flummoxed by the scientific detail but the essential story and the two characters kept me gripped, especially in such a modern, relatable setting and scenario.
The jumping to Jack's character in the final section of the novel seemed unnaturally rushed but there were some great literary touches and devices which helped move the action along.
I felt it was a brilliant concept and fascinating love story although the writing and structure could have been improved by an editor's firm hand. It will make a great TV series.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance review copy of this novel.

This book follows Zoe and Jack. Harvard to science startup. I got lost in the academic talk.

This book took me longer than normal to get through, but I refuse to dnf.

Even though it turned out to not be my cup of tea, I’m glad I gave it a chance.

I absolutely love the idea of two bright young things starting a spin off from a genius idea- this is happening all of the time in Universities and companies worldwide but the reality of getting lab space, money and support is rarely discussed. This book brings to light the underbelly of development and discovery, the pressure to publish, to find investment and to race to commercially available product.
Zoe and Jack have an almost toxic friendship right from the start and their business relationship is equally fraught. The characters are great and the emotional turbulence sweeps off the pages.
A great read exploring morality, scientific endeavour and changing relationships.

Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor is a gripping and thought-provoking debut that explores the intersection of ambition, love, and the pursuit of immortality. The book follows Zoe and Jack, two Harvard students whose groundbreaking discovery in the field of biotechnology propels them into the heady world of startup culture. What begins as a collaboration between two like-minded scientists soon grows into a much larger and more dangerous venture that will test not only their intellects but also their morals and relationships.

Zoe, the daughter of an MIT professor, has always felt overshadowed by her older brother but finds new opportunities at Harvard, where she crosses paths with Jack, a talented and competitive organic chemistry student. Their intellectual chemistry is undeniable, and they quickly become close collaborators, working late into the night discussing scientific theories and pushing the boundaries of what they thought possible. Together, they discover what they believe could be the cure for ageing, a scientific breakthrough that could change the world.

What starts as an innocent exploration soon turns into a high-stakes race to commercialize their discovery. They leave Harvard behind, start a biotech company, and become the darlings of the media, celebrated for their success and the promise of immortality. But as the accolades mount, so do the pressures, and the couple is faced with a shocking accusation that threatens everything they’ve worked for—and the very foundation of their relationship.

Notes on Infinity delves deeply into the intoxicating allure of success, the hunger for achievement, and the moral compromises that often accompany ambition. It explores the complexities of love, particularly the kind of love that is built on shared goals and intellectual connection but is tested by the weight of unexpected consequences. Zoe and Jack are brilliantly written characters, each with their flaws and strengths, and their evolving relationship is both poignant and fraught with tension.

The book raises powerful questions about the lengths one would go to in the pursuit of a dream, the cost of immortality, and the true price of success. Taylor’s writing is both beautiful and haunting, capturing the thrill of discovery and the darker sides of ambition. The stakes in Notes on Infinity are high, and the story is a compelling exploration of how far one will go to achieve greatness and what happens when that pursuit begins to unravel.

In the end, Notes on Infinity is a cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked ambition, the fragility of relationships under pressure, and the devastating impact of chasing an idealized vision of success without considering the cost.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

I really wanted to love this book but couldn't- I think maybe the scientific element was just that bit 'heavier' than I had hoped.

'Notes on Infinity' is a debut novel by Austin Taylor which is truly captivating by being able to intertwine the world of science, ambition and love which gives it a unique narrative. Initially, I was apprehensive to delve into a novel that centred around biotech startups, fearing it may be laden with technical jargon however, it defied my initial expectations and proved to be an engaging read throughout in which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The core of the novel, follows Zoe and Jack, two Harvard students that come from completely different backgrounds, who form an unusual partnership that leads to a discovery of a potential drug to cure ageing. The scientific background of the story was fascinating but what really gripped me was how human and intimate the story felt. Taylor doesn’t just focus on the grandeur of their discovery; he delves into their motivations, their struggles, and the ever-growing tension between progress and morality.

Taylor's writing is elegant, yet accessible which strikes the perfect balance between being sharp, clear storytelling and moments of quiet depth. The pacing is excellent with there never being a dull moment yet the book takes its time when it needs to meaning we are able to have moments of deep reflection.

I really didn't imagine to love this book as much as I did, but it completely won me over. It is a kind of novel that surprises you, not just with its originality, but with its depth which resonates on a personal level. If you are looking for something refreshingly different, Notes on Infinity is definitely worth the read.

I enjoyed the beginning of the book and was excited to see how this played out. The writing style flowed well and the dialogue was strong. However, the weight/volume and level of detail of the scientific and start-up business information weighed it down for me and started to bog down the story. I have limited understanding of this and found it too detailed and hard to read. I think I could have coped better with this had the central love story been stronger but it felt implausible to me and lacked convincing emotion.

The final part with the switch to Jack's voice felt much weaker with the time jumps breaking the story, although I did like the switch in perspective.

I did like the themes of ambition, the use of science and women in STEM.

Zoe and Jack meet at the university, and delve into a deeply complex commitment of science, morality, love, friendship and business.
I found the first few chapters gripping. I was interested in Jack's background, and Zoe felt like a curious character as well as her family.
I also enjoyed the science scene very much.
Interestingly, an emerging screenwriter wrote a similarly themed (anti-aging drug, university, complex relationships) screenplay last year, and I was eager to read Notes on Infinity because of my keenness on science-related fiction.

What I would have changed or liked more of:
1. Jack had immense potential. I would have liked to have a better picture of his past. I could not fully grasp why he was the way he was.
2. Zoe and Zoe's family could have been explored more thoroughly.
3. The science and academic details. I would rather have the most accurate, relevant, and authentic picture than glimpses of it. This book is generally good at the accuracy and authenticity, but I needed more.
4. The ending did not fully engage me. I did not see the twist as a twist. The reasons why are related to my points 1 and 2.
5. If the ending and generally, the leadup to the ending shall remain the same, then this can be condensed. Until the revelation, I was having a 3.5-4-star experience. The ending did not pay off well.
6. For me, the whole book with Taylor's writing, the characterisation, premise had a 5-star potential. I could have read a slightly more edited, slightly differently written (more literary) 500-page book with more about Jack, and Zoe, and all the complications, and had a nearly perfect reading experience.

Whatever the blurb for this book is, it’s fundamentally a love story. Love of science, young love, lack of love.

Zoe and Jack meet at Harvard, both science students determined to succeed. They find themselves propelled into the world of biotech, start ups, venture capitalism. All seems rosy as the dollars roll in, but there’s a flaw at the heart of their research. Fast paced and engrossing, this story had me hooked and didn’t let me go.

Notes on infinity looks at some of life’s deep questions about immortality, success and love and leaves you tomdraw your own conclusions. Perfectly execute debut.

’Notes On Infinity’ by Austin Taylor

Harvard undergraduates Zoe and Jack come from opposite backgrounds; she is the daughter of an MIT professor, he… well, Zoe doesn’t really know. After meeting in an organic chemistry class and flirting with an academic rivalry, they become colleagues at a research lab, before taking their partnership further and becoming co-founders of their own biotech company. Their hope? To develop a drug that will reverse ageing—and perhaps even confer immortality. However, after finding initial media success and securing substantial financial backing, their world comes crashing down when a shocking accusation is levelled against Jack, one that leaves Zoe reeling. Will their company and everything they’ve worked for survive? And what about they themselves and their relationship? Was what they had ever anything more than a dream?

‘Notes on Infinity’ starts strong, with a quick pace, relatable characters, complex relationship dynamics and intriguing ideas (and, delightfully, it lives up to the promised ‘Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow’ meets ‘The Dropout’ vibes); however, after the first third, it begins to fall apart, and although I remained hopeful the author would pull it back together in the end, unfortunately it never recovers. Overall, it was a great idea let down by poor execution.

The positives:
- The characters are well-constructed and relatable. I particularly like the dynamics we see in Zoe’s family, and how that affects the way she moves through the world. She is complex and intriguing. Similarly, none of the other characters are reduced to a single trait, but have multiple facets, and how they appear differs according to context. This makes them feel real.
- The amount of scientific information included is well-balanced. There is enough to inform the story and to make the set-up feel plausible, but it doesn’t bog down the writing.
- The novel offers an interesting insight into how a women are treated in STEM fields, in academia and in the business industry—and how they treat each other. It offers a realistic account of female rivalry.

The not so positives:
- Zoe and Jack lack romantic chemistry, and there’s no indication of any physical attraction, which makes the development of their relationship feel contrived. The almost clinical style of the writing, with an avoidance of delving into characters’ emotions, makes it hard to know how the characters feel about one another, so when relationships develop, they seem to come out of nowhere. ‘Love’ feels like a word stated by the author, not something the characters feel.
- The way the story jumps back and forth from present to past to future and the lack of time indicators at the start of sections to show readers how much time has passed since the previous scene makes the characters feel like they’re unstuck in time, à la Billy Pilgrim, only without Vonnegut’s intent or mastery. It’s disorientating and pulls the reader out of the story.
- The writing, though engaging in the first third, soon begins to feel perfunctory, like the author’s enthusiasm for the story has waned and writing it has become a bit of a slog. At the same time, any sense of cause and effect in the scenes is lost, leading to an episodic feel, with many scenes where the purpose isn’t clear. This makes the story drag and feel repetitive—a collection of random scenes grouped together, rather than a cohesive flow that builds the story.
- An overabundance of sentence fragments. Far too many. Makes the story difficult to read. Distracting.
- All the references to locations at/around Harvard don’t help any reader who hasn’t attended Harvard build a mental image of the scenes. Instead, it feels like a rather heavy-handed way for the author to point out that she herself attended Harvard.
- Although Zoe’s character is well-constructed to begin with, she soon becomes a caricature of Elizabeth Holmes. This detracts from the idea of the story as a piece of creative fiction, and makes it feel uncomfortably like the appropriation of a real person into a piece of pseudo-fiction.
- The insertion of an incident of sexual assault and the glamorising of eating disorders doesn’t add to the story at all, and the issues aren’t explored fully enough to warrant their inclusion. It feels like these, once again, were used to draw similarities to Elizabeth Holmes.
- The idea of immortality and the implications of anti-ageing technology isn’t explored as much as it could have been, and it isn’t woven into any overarching themes of the story. This feels like a missed opportunity. As it is, it feels like the nature of the research Zoe and Jack are conducting and the therapeutics they are hoping to develop is arbitrary and could easily be swapped for anything else without impacting the overall story.
- Towards the end, the story switches to Jack’s point of view. The rehashing of the entire story up to this point, only this time from Jack’s perspective, feels repetitive. It also made me feel like really this is Jack’s story and should have been told from his POV all along. He is the character who is making the decisions and is driving the trajectory of the story, not Zoe. He is also the emotional heart of the story. Seeing it all from his POV, linearly, and informed by his emotional experience, would have been a far more interesting story and might have solved a lot of the issues the story has.
- The way the writing form turned experimental at the end made it feel like the author wasn’t quite sure how to finish the story or what she wanted to book to be overall.

Though I’m sure many readers will enjoy this book more than I did, I can’t say I would recommend it. I would, however, be interested in reading any future works from the author, as I think she has potential as a writer and subsequent books might have fewer ‘first novel’ problems.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

My review will be posted on Instagram, GoodReads, The StoryGraph, and Amazon UK a week before the book’s publication.

⚠️ Disordered eating, sexual assault, sexism, misogyny, racism, addiction, child abuse, drug abuse, suicide

I haven't read writing like this in a very long time. I knew by the end of the second page that I wanted to forget about all my responsibilities for the day and just read, and two days after finishing I'm still finding myself wondering what Zoe and Jack are up to, and thinking that there surely must be more. Notes on Infinity is a very very special book.

The writing is so specific and accomplished, tight from the very first page until the very last. Creative partnership love stories are my very favourite genre, and while I'm not particularly in to science, it's handled here in a way that that doesn't matter - the science is hardly the point, in so many ways. This is a story about people, and ambition, and what it means to create something, be that a world-changing drug or a functional partnership. We sort of know from the very beginning that Zoe and Jack aren't going to pull of what they intend to, but it's still a thrilling ride, where you're always hoping against all logic that they might.

I think this might be one of those books that I can't talk about in a normal way! It made me want to step up my game like nothing else has for a long time. Favourite of the year so far, hands down.

I read this book for a late valentines and unfortunately it wasn’t for me. This leaned into a kind of intellectual romance which if that’s something you enjoy then this is the book for you

So, I've just finished this book, and it was brilliant! I've read nearly 40 books this year so far, and this one is most definitely at the top of the list. There's so much I want to talk about! My heart was in my mouth for much of this book, and I had no idea how things would pan out. I was captivated, reading it over a short period and into the early hours!

I loved reading about academia, startups, investors, and the high stakes. Then came the aftermath—the fundamental questions of chasing dreams, the toll it takes, and whether it’s all worth it in the end. Do we want to be successful? To defy aging? Is it truly worth it?

Beautiful writing, fabulous characters—I actually want to read it all over again! Loved it. 5 stars plus!

This is basically a love story between two brilliant Harvard undergraduates, Zoe and Jack, who think they have discovered a cure for aging. Most of the first part of the book is concerned with their research, setting up their company and basically becoming rich. `There is far too much technical explanation of both the research and the business jargon, which I did not understand, also the way that American universities work seems very different to here in the UK. Then things start to go badly wrong. It is only towards the end when the narrative switches to James' past life - we know all about Zoe but Jack has kept his background quiet. This is the real story which I could relate to. The writing is good but the technical passages kill it for me. The author is a Harvard graduate in chemistry and English which explains a lot. Hs is just showing off with the Gilgamesh quotes!

I'm so gutted that this book just didn't live up to what I imagined it was going to be. Unfortunately I did abandon this around the 40% mark, and I was torn with whether or not to persevere, but I just feel like reading should never feel like a chore.

I will say that I LOVED the concept for this book. That's what drew me in and got me so excited to dive into it - it's so unique. I just wish it was executed differently. I made it to 40% of the book, and still all that had really happened was a lot of back and forth between Zoe and Jack at the lab while they work on this project. There were a lot of long, drawn out scenes that I think could've been skipped over as they didn't particularly add anything or set the story up, and the entire first half of the book is just very slow-paced, which I'm not used to.

What I would've loved is if the book started with some backstory as to *why* the cure for aging was significant, how it evolved, how Zoe and Jack bonded while developing it - but then quickly getting into the execution and the bringing it into the world and the press interviews and the fame. THAT'S what I was excited to read about, and I just didn't get that, and if it comes later then I unfortunately just couldn't stick out the wait.

Additionally, there was quite a lot of technical jargon that went over my head and at times I read entire pages without fully knowing what I read, so it would've been nice for it to perhaps be written in a slightly more accessible way. Carrie Soto is Back comes to mind as an example - this book largely centres around competitive tennis, which I knew NOTHING about, but it was written in a way that explained everything clearly to the reader and even had me fully invested and wanting to learn more about tennis by the end of it. That's what I was hoping for here, with the science side of things.

Like I said, I do still think the concept of this book is fab, and I think anyone who doesn't mind a slow-paced, descriptive book and who has a passion/understanding for science might enjoy this. It may well be one of those books that completely picks up in the second half and gets amazing - I'm just sorry I didn't get there.

This book is the story of Zoe and Jack who meet at Harvard university in America where they undertake internships in the biotech fields. Between them they come up with a potential breakthrough in the ability to increase organisms lifespan. They break away from the university abandon their university studies and set up a start-up company to research this further and take it forward towards drug development. The pace is initially fast and they quickly become wealthy with the potential of this new development.
There are an awful lot of acronyms at the start of this book that I didn’t actually understand. I wonder if there was specifically American University terms
I was struggling to get into it to begin with as I didn’t understand the science ( this is different to tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow to which it has been compared where we all understood basic computing )
I liked the way that the narrator changed from
Zoe to Jack at the three-quarter stage in the novel .It was good to see things from his point of view
I liked the way the novel switched from an increasingly being entirely on the upwards trajectory to potential disaster. This added some level of threat to the novel which made it much more interesting.
I didn’t really understand the Gilgamesh story which was amended to some of the chapters
I did not predict the plot twist in the middle it was fantastic
The author has a clean clear easily red writing style and the novel was an easy read once I got into it.
I’ve seen the book compared to tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow which was one of my favourite novels and this is what made me reach for it on NetGalley UK. Personally what I can’t see the similarity I found this novel rather more difficult to read because I didn’t really understand the underlying science as well as I felt I needed to.
I felt there was a lot of similarities with the television series Dopesick so I think if you enjoy that then you might enjoy this novel
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 10th of July 2025 by Michael Joseph Penguin a random house.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com. After publication it will also appear on Amazon UK.

In a Harvard chemistry class, Zoe and Jack engage in a fierce intellectual rivalry, each determined to outsmart the other. But as they clash, they also spark a connection that goes beyond academics. United by their passion for discovery and ambition, they form an unstoppable partnership, both in research and in love. Their collaboration leads to a thriving startup, and their relationship seems perfect. But when a shocking accusation threatens to destroy everything they've built, their love and trust are put to the ultimate test. Will their dreams and ambitions survive the turmoil, or will the costs of success prove too high? This captivating novel explores the cutthroat world of innovation, the blurred lines between truth and deception, and the intoxicating power of love and ambition.