Customer Reviews

The Aremac Project

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most of us have read a number of Gerry Weinberg's books on Software Engineering (e.g., Rethinking Systems Analysis and Design). This is Gerry's first foray into the field of Science Fiction. As an avid Sci-Fi reader, I found this book fascinating. While it's not in my favorite genre (military Sci-Fi ala Gordon Dickson, David Weber, Steve White) it's an interesting tale of genius inventors, criminal investigation, and unusual terrorists. Not wanting to give the plot away, I will say that while the book is cerebral in parts, it has a bang-up ending with a surprising "lead villain". The heros are somehow an interesting synthesis of logical scientists and lovable individuals, especially Tess and Addie. While the terrorists seem a bit wooden at times, I'm sure in subsequent novels, Gerry will flesh out the "bad guys" as well as he does the good guys.

Read this book.

If you like science fiction, mysteries or thrillers, I highly recommend this book. I couldn't put it down.

This book makes for an exciting journey. The plot has many unexpected twists - a catastrophic misfortune, a new technology, a fight to get or maintain control over the new technology, and terrorism, to name a few. The main characters are sympathetic and believable techies. The other characters range from an ambivalent hero to a smarmy professor to seemingly evil terrorists. The technology is futuristic and believable and the short chapters keep it moving at a rapid pace. A great read!

Not many books take an invention from the start to the working-prototype finish. This is one such book.

A new invention, the intimate affects on the lives of the inventors, the conspiring political scene, both in the US and the world, and more. I enjoyed the ride, with it all coming together in a great action sequence.

I thought the story had a nice balance between the science and the effects on the lives of the main characters. It didn't delve into dry scientific terms and explanations, but instead kept my interest to keep reading to learn more. I also liked the changing relationship between the two main characters, in a development in their affection to each other from something more clinical to something more emotional-based.

This was the first book of a series, and I'm looking forward to reading the others.

I enjoyed reading Jerry Weinberg's foray into fiction writing. I have had the pleasure of knowing Jerry for about ten years and his non-fiction writing for twenty years. As he reveals in his blog on writing (weinbergonwriting.blogspot.com), Jerry has returned to fiction writing as a way to spread some of his lessons learned from 50 years working in computers and other technical areas.

That was the source of my joy reading "The Aremac Project" - finding the gems of technical advice woven into the story of terrorists and hero technologists (yes, a book where the geeks are the good guys).

Among the good advice to use is:


People trap themselves in inefficient patterns and aren't likely to change unless something drastic happens to them.
It's is because software is easier to change that it requires more discipline.
The lack of clues is a clue.
Telling them to go faster only leads to making mistakes.
Notice the world around you.
Among the bad advice frequently given and we should all avoid is:

What could possibly go wrong?
We don't have time to make a plan.
Thinking is a luxury we can no longer afford.
I especially appreciated the lesson on intellectual property rights. Weinberg knows this topic after having published 40-something books and hundreds of papers. His advice serves authors and others (like computer programmers) well, and for us this is worth the price of the novel.

I recommend "The Aremac Project" for anyone wishing entertainment and consultation with one of the technical world's leading consultants.

I am a long-time fan of Jerry Weinberg's non-fiction writing, and was pleased to hear he was moving into fiction. My typical read is classic science fiction, and I struggled with the first few chapters. The characters are flawed and make mistakes, but it's unclear what they are learning.

Then you start to see consequences for poor choices, and Wienberg picks up the pace. Slowly, but quicker and quicker, you see the characters develop as all forces -- and all sides -- are drawn toward a central conflict that results in a showdown. The last fifty pages had me nailed to the chair, flipping pages, unwilling to get up for any reason - it's that good.

Like I said, this is Weinberg's first attempt at mass-market fiction. Some of the characters are a bit wooden, some of the imagery is a little flat, the tone struggles a bit at the beginning, and, to be honest, my family hates the cover. All of those relatively small things conspire to keep this away from a five-star rating - but it's definitely four stars. If you like cyberpunk or techno-thrillers, I suspect you will love it, but it's an enjoyable read even if that isn't your favorite genre.

If Weinberg can produce this level of quality on his first novel, I suspect we have much to look forward to!

Gerald M. Weinberg has covered the area of systems thinking, writing, and secrets of consulting with a handful of books already. In the light of his previous publications "The Aremac Project" is perhaps an odd one - it's a thriller, not a handbook. "The Aremac Project" is a thrilling story about young geniuses, terrorism, FBI agents, bombs, a mind reading device, and above all it really is a story about a software development project. Software development is a rare subject in fiction, just Douglas Coupland comes to my mind. This is perhaps a story that could have been written by Coupland. Though Weinberg does not bend the language like Coupland does in his writing, the amount of absurdity in the story is on the same level.

If you've read any or some of mr Weinberg's other books you'll see pieces of wisdom sprinkled throughout the book. Like the "A Buffalo Story" from "The Secrects of Consulting". "He's like a buffalo. I can get him to do anything I want him to do, as long as he wants to do it." And there's a Robin Hood character, the "Bag Bandit", who teaches beaurocrats about queueing theory and systems thinking.

The heroes of this story, the two married genius hardware and software engineers, Tess and Roger, are assignend to a federal funded anti terrorism project, with the aim to develop a mind reading device, lead by professor Wyatt. Tess and Roger are of course not informed about the true origins of this project when they sign on the project, but the implications of the project are bound to make them aware soon enough. Professor Wyatt turns out to be utterly incompetent. In fact, you could read the book and use his examples as anti patterns for project management. Professor Wyatt isn't just an incompetent leader, he's a dangerous programmer as well. A hack in the Aremac's control program's compiled code causes a massive electromagnetic jolt to be released while Tess is strapped to the machine, rendering Tess to a stable paralyzed condition. With Tess paralyzed, Roger turns his focus on helping Tess back to normal, using the Aremac technology. At the same time a group of terrorists are bombing soft targets in Chicago and the FBI is growing more and more impatient to use the Aremac. Tess and Roger are soon entangled in a very challenging software development project.

Does it end happily? To find out, you'll have to read it yourself. If you are a swede you might be a little surprised in the end...

Computer industry consultant and award-winning author Gerald M. Weinberg presents The Aremac Project, a thrilling science fiction novel. While a pair of grad students push the boundaries of neuroscience and nanotechnology to create software that takes pictures of a person's memory, a terrorist group has been bombing landmarks in Chicago, attempting to extort millions from the city. In the desperate search for clues, two agents hire the grad students, hoping to apply their experimental discoveries to learn more from a suspect's mind. When a sudden murder stymies their investigation, the investigators and the unique Aremac project become the terrorist's next target! A fast-paced read brimming with raw excitement.

I gave this 5 stars because I can't give it 4 1/2! I agree that the eeevil Government agent is overdone. That being said, the novel was well done, many plot twists and other delights. While the reverse-camera-concept is not new, it was handled well here. I cannot agree with other editorial comments about a predictable ending. A surprise at the end is not the be-all and end-all of fiction, science or otherwise. I have just published a science fiction/political novel (Dear Madman)with a predictable ending. What counts in good science fiction is the IDEA, the CONCEPT, and how it is fleshed out.
Thanks for the read, Gerald.
John Cooley, author of Dear Madman

I was all set to post my review of this fast-paced, topical, and creative sci fi thriller, when I noticed that everything I had to say had pretty much been said in the Editorial Reviews posted above. I had even ended my comments with the same complaint made by Susan Mayse, writing that, "as much as I enjoyed the tour through Chicago's ethnic eateries,"... I often found myself "hankering for corned beef on rye and cheese blintzes." So much for originality! On the plus side, however, the fact that my observations parallel so many remarks already made only confirms that this book is indeed a great romp, filled with memorable characters (human and otherwise), plot twists galore, and grist for mind and heart alike.

Tesla Bell Myers (Tess) is a young lady who admires genius, so much so that she is determined to marry one. Her father was a genius and she is now in college and so far has found no man who matches her exacting standards of intelligence. She has no concerns about any other nerd-like faults that the man may possess. Suddenly, she notices a man in her advanced circuitry class that seems to satisfy her requirements. His name is Roger; he is half Arab, a true genius and is socially inept around females. Tess talks to Professor Harvey Wyatt, a man whose high opinion of himself is completely unjustified about a research project whereby the electrical signals of the brain can be captured and correctly interpreted as the person's thoughts. The project is to be funded by the Department of Homeland Security, as they think it could be used to interrogate suspected terrorists. Since Wyatt has his sights set on becoming sexually involved with Tess, he agrees to allow Roger to work on the project with Tess.
The beginning of the relationship between Roger and Tess is funny, as Tess offers Roger simple sexual rewards for his sensible participation in the project. For example, if he follows through in putting detailed entries into his lab journal, for each day he gets a kiss from Tess. To keep him interested, she tells him that "if he does it every day for a week he can have some of this" whereby she takes his hand and uses it to make a circle on her left breast. She then follows it with, "Underneath my bra, if you do two weeks in a row." Finally, she closes with, "Now, get to work. I don't want to be on Social Security before I let you put your hand inside my pants." I laughed out loud at that one.
While this is going on, a team of very efficient terrorists are conducting bombings in the Chicago area. A team of FBI agents, local police and agents from the Department of Homeland Security are doing all they can to crack the case, but the bombers are so efficient that they have left few clues. In nearly all of the bombings, the terrorists deliberately targeted places where people would not be injured. However, the last bombing when the story opens was different. A man was severely injured, his legs were blown off and he was burned so badly he cannot speak. Their suspicion is that he was either a bomber or someone the terrorists left there in order to kill him. The terrorists make no political statement; their only demand is a very large cash payment.
As you would expect, the Aremac machine reaches the point where it is starting to yield results. From this point, the story becomes largely predictable. The government agents try to double cross Tess and Roger, Tess becomes pregnant and they enlist some exceptional computer programmers to aid them. Tess tries the machine on herself and as a consequence becomes completely incapacitated. This causes Roger to try that much harder to make it work and he succeeds and Tess recovers at a very opportune time regarding the climax of the story.
I found the solution to be very predictable; I announced to my fiancé what I thought it would be many pages before I reached that point. The plot device of duplicitous government agents has been used so many times that it is nearly worn out. While I liked the story, it was just too similar to others for me to maintain a high level of interest.