Finding Phi

by Abigail Beck

Humankind’s search for meaning has driven individuals since the dawn of consciousness. Science’s greatest minds use technology and mathematical patterns to understand both the fundamental building blocks of reality as well as the cosmos that formed them. The continued evolution of human intelligence and understanding is dependent upon the survival of the species.

But what if humankind’s collective future were decided by a small number of men with the power to disrupt the ecological balance of the planet in the name of corporate profit? This is the world of Sarah Addison, a CIA analyst with a troubled past, on a personal quest for sustainability. Her investigation into the sustainability of conventional agricultural practices lands her in the crosshairs of the world’s largest agribusinesses. The information she is about to uncover could crumble the foundations of current agricultural practices, while leading to the key to a sustainable future on earth. However, the corporation she is about to expose in the process will do anything to stop her.

Paperback

First published May 10, 2015

About the author

Abigail Beck holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting and a Master’s Degree in Civil/Environmental Engineering. As a young artist, she lived in Prague and Paris while painting, writing and teaching English. She now travels world-wide as an environmental consultant using geophysical methods to prevent contamination to ground water. She has published numerous technical papers and taught educational seminars world-wide on environmental containment facility design, construction and testing. When she is not traveling and consulting, Abigail lives with her husband on a solar-powered farmstead in Southern Vermont. She spends her free time in the garden, with the animals, or exploring the backwoods of Vermont.

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 and a half stars. I received this book as a win in the Goodreads Giveaway. The following is my honest review.

This is a suspense novel about a CIA agent who used to be active in Greenpeace. She is an environmental activist. She is secretly hoping to find proof that an agribusiness company is poisoning the land with its products. Sarah Addison is a lonely, workaholic who loves to garden organically, is an expert in potable water sources all over the world. Will the increasing population of the world create a crisis of the have and the have nots for water? Most likely.

The book bogged down for me with the very technical, scientific dialogue. I had to look up some of the scientific terms and still had some issues understanding Phi. For the average reader, this might be a problem. Where the author excelled was in the creating of her characters and the suspense of Sarah, Trevor and the chase to get the evidence needed to stop the corporate giant from creating a chemical that could destroy the forests to create farm land.

I look forward to her next novel. She has the potential to be a good suspense novelist. One other observation would have been to shorten this book by at least 100 pages. The set up of introducing the characters could have been shorter, also, more simplistic language of the science for laymen. The book had an overall pessimistic view of the world, that got a little old for me.