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Einstein's Raven
Derek Phillips, a cutting edge programmer at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, is tasked to find out who is hacking into the lab’s secret files on “Harry”—one of the most advanced supercomputers in the world. His job is on the line. “Find the Intruder or seek a new career,” his demanding boss tells him. Derek is between a rock and a hard place when he meets a mysterious woman named Raven who is seeking a secret from the past. She is beautiful, and clever, and has serious computer skills. But who is she really and why does she turn up in his life just now? The answer marks the beginning of an adventure that leads Derek beyond his wildest dreams as Raven reveals she is on a special mission. A mission so important that, should she fail to achieve her goals, futuristic terrorists will uncover one of the best kept secrets of the “Ancients.” A secret so powerful that in the wrong hands it could destroy the very nature of time itself.
281 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 25, 2020
139 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Fred G. Baker
40 books11 followersFred G. Baker is a hydrologist, historian, and writer living in Colorado. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and M.S and Ph.D. degrees from University of Colorado – Boulder, the later in Geology. He worked as an environmental consultant for many years and has traveled widely.
He is the author of An Imperfect Crime, Desert Sanctuary, Zona: The Forbidden Land, The Black Freighter, and the Modern Pirate Series of short and long stories. He is also the author of nonfiction works such as Growing Up Wisconsin, The Life and Times of Con James Baker of Des Moines, Chicago, and Wisconsin, The Light from a Thousand Campfires (with Hannah Pavlik), and other nonfiction works.
He is the author of An Imperfect Crime, Desert Sanctuary, Zona: The Forbidden Land, The Black Freighter, and the Modern Pirate Series of short and long stories. He is also the author of nonfiction works such as Growing Up Wisconsin, The Life and Times of Con James Baker of Des Moines, Chicago, and Wisconsin, The Light from a Thousand Campfires (with Hannah Pavlik), and other nonfiction works.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 8, 2020
EINSTEIN'S RAVEN is a rapidly paced suspenseful combination of futuristic, contemporary technology, programming, and espionage, with an intertwining of history, Conspiracy theory, and some gentle nudge at certain overweening government agencies. Plus aliens.
Derek is a mild-mannered, obsessive, elitist intellectual programmer in Colorado. Raven is an odd bird but actually, she's a covert agent, here to save Time. Literally!
Derek is a mild-mannered, obsessive, elitist intellectual programmer in Colorado. Raven is an odd bird but actually, she's a covert agent, here to save Time. Literally!
October 19, 2020
Preface: I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I have very mixed feelings about this book. My personal enjoyment level would be around a two, but I can see other people who can more easily turn their brain off being entertained by it.
The problem is this - the book is riddled with inconsistencies, because the plot only exists to set up the main relationship. What the charm is, how it works, all that stuff doesn't really matter - what matters is Raven. Raven is a classic "Born Sexy Yesterday" character. She's somehow been trained to be a super secret agent, an incredible computer hacker, etc. etc., but conveniently has no understanding of modern culture, dress, decorum, etc. despite the modern era's obsession with documenting every facet of their lives. (Seriously, there has literally never been a better time to time-travel to, because everything you could ever need to know is right there.) Raven fine with the main character stumbling onto her in her underwear (he doesn't even apologize or anything, he just gawks), dresses in sexy cocktail dresses for fun, constantly needs to be helped with basic tasks so the hero looks better...you get the idea.
The plot also makes very little sense, and ends up roping a real-life man, Stephen Hawking, into it (RIP). He's not treated disrespectfully, but it's odd. The enemies are sort-of aliens, so we don't have to feel bad about gruesomely murdering them and hiding the bodies, but there's also a blatant contradiction where some of them are killed in very public ways, and literally just a basic DNA test would show you they're not completely human. Very weird.
The reason I'm not rating this a 2-star, however, is that despite all its issues, the book is...genuinely engaging. It's quick-paced, it's interesting, the romantic relationship has its sweet moments at times, and things are always happening. If you're the sort of person who can just turn their brain off and enjoy the ride, you might enjoy this, but it wasn't for me.
I have very mixed feelings about this book. My personal enjoyment level would be around a two, but I can see other people who can more easily turn their brain off being entertained by it.
The problem is this - the book is riddled with inconsistencies, because the plot only exists to set up the main relationship. What the charm is, how it works, all that stuff doesn't really matter - what matters is Raven. Raven is a classic "Born Sexy Yesterday" character. She's somehow been trained to be a super secret agent, an incredible computer hacker, etc. etc., but conveniently has no understanding of modern culture, dress, decorum, etc. despite the modern era's obsession with documenting every facet of their lives. (Seriously, there has literally never been a better time to time-travel to, because everything you could ever need to know is right there.) Raven fine with the main character stumbling onto her in her underwear (he doesn't even apologize or anything, he just gawks), dresses in sexy cocktail dresses for fun, constantly needs to be helped with basic tasks so the hero looks better...you get the idea.
The plot also makes very little sense, and ends up roping a real-life man, Stephen Hawking, into it (RIP). He's not treated disrespectfully, but it's odd. The enemies are sort-of aliens, so we don't have to feel bad about gruesomely murdering them and hiding the bodies, but there's also a blatant contradiction where some of them are killed in very public ways, and literally just a basic DNA test would show you they're not completely human. Very weird.
The reason I'm not rating this a 2-star, however, is that despite all its issues, the book is...genuinely engaging. It's quick-paced, it's interesting, the romantic relationship has its sweet moments at times, and things are always happening. If you're the sort of person who can just turn their brain off and enjoy the ride, you might enjoy this, but it wasn't for me.
July 4, 2020
A young woman from the year 3011 is sent back in time through a portal to the year 2019 to the town of Golden, Colorado on a secret mission in Fred G. Baker's Einstein's Raven. She is dressed in the fashion of 2019 by studying historical archives of that time and given some currency to begin the mission.
A few days later, Derek Phillips is attending a therapy meeting for people with addictions. Derek is a 31 year old programmer who is a workaholic. Derek is taken with the beauty of the newest member of the therapy group named Raven who is also a programmer and coder who has difficulty with public speaking. Derek asks the mysterious young lady for coffee after the meeting and they spend the evening together drinking Merlot. There is something off about this girl who claims to be from Acadia. She almost seems to be from another planet as she seems very innocent for her age and has lived a sheltered life. He suspects that she grew up in a religious group that did not allow her to learn about society. As they drink, she gets a little intoxicated and starts talking about an important mission and a lost charm, but does not elaborate. Derek is concerned for her safety after finding out she has been sleeping in her car and invites her to sleep on his couch at his apartment for the night.
Derek has been having a stressful time at his job at NREL- the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. They recently had a breach of their security system that has involved the interest of the National Security Agency. Derek is assigned to a security task force to find out who has hacked their system and why? As Derek and Raven become closer, they team up to help each other in this exciting adventure. Baker is a great storyteller and this enthralling story will engage its readers. Raven and Derek have real chemistry together as the story progresses. This book has it all, time travel, mystery, danger, humor and some romance. It is a very entertaining read.
A few days later, Derek Phillips is attending a therapy meeting for people with addictions. Derek is a 31 year old programmer who is a workaholic. Derek is taken with the beauty of the newest member of the therapy group named Raven who is also a programmer and coder who has difficulty with public speaking. Derek asks the mysterious young lady for coffee after the meeting and they spend the evening together drinking Merlot. There is something off about this girl who claims to be from Acadia. She almost seems to be from another planet as she seems very innocent for her age and has lived a sheltered life. He suspects that she grew up in a religious group that did not allow her to learn about society. As they drink, she gets a little intoxicated and starts talking about an important mission and a lost charm, but does not elaborate. Derek is concerned for her safety after finding out she has been sleeping in her car and invites her to sleep on his couch at his apartment for the night.
Derek has been having a stressful time at his job at NREL- the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. They recently had a breach of their security system that has involved the interest of the National Security Agency. Derek is assigned to a security task force to find out who has hacked their system and why? As Derek and Raven become closer, they team up to help each other in this exciting adventure. Baker is a great storyteller and this enthralling story will engage its readers. Raven and Derek have real chemistry together as the story progresses. This book has it all, time travel, mystery, danger, humor and some romance. It is a very entertaining read.
July 25, 2020
Filled with mysteries and enigmas, this book is so entertaining and mind-boggling at the same time.
Derek was a compulsive programer and a science frantic working for a national lab. He usually likes to work alone and somehow his pedantic approach led him to a self help group where he met Raven, a mysterious girl who changed Derek’s life in unexpected ways.
The whole story plots around a breach in the NRE lab and raven’s strange pursuit.
Derek was trying to find the intruder that entered in their system files with his full impetus, while getting stunned by raven’s secrets at the same time. Shown out as a pathetic and poverty stricken woman at first; Raven turned out to be a excellent programmer. Derek and raven bonded pretty well contributed to their mutual prowess in programming.
Raven helped Derek in his ongoing pursuit for the intruder in exchange of some favours which could somehow help her in personal mission. Author used a lot of computing and programming phrases which make me dumbfounded most of the times, since i have no coding or any sorta background but it’s still intriguing to read and to know that how could a small breach can result into a disaster, and more importantly, how tough it could make the life of people around it.
The story keeps surprising readers from time travel to fighting strange persons from a doomed colony on moon. It unravels strange mysteries of time and it’s concept, preaches about bravery of Raven and Derek and their fascinating encounter with world renowned scientist Stephan Hawking. Author really knows how to paint a picture with words and he never missed on details and profound expression of speeches and events.
Finally, after enduring all the pain and danger, book has a happy ending and I would recommend this to anyone who has even slightest of their interest in mystery, programming, time travel and fictional characters with strange powers.
Derek was a compulsive programer and a science frantic working for a national lab. He usually likes to work alone and somehow his pedantic approach led him to a self help group where he met Raven, a mysterious girl who changed Derek’s life in unexpected ways.
The whole story plots around a breach in the NRE lab and raven’s strange pursuit.
Derek was trying to find the intruder that entered in their system files with his full impetus, while getting stunned by raven’s secrets at the same time. Shown out as a pathetic and poverty stricken woman at first; Raven turned out to be a excellent programmer. Derek and raven bonded pretty well contributed to their mutual prowess in programming.
Raven helped Derek in his ongoing pursuit for the intruder in exchange of some favours which could somehow help her in personal mission. Author used a lot of computing and programming phrases which make me dumbfounded most of the times, since i have no coding or any sorta background but it’s still intriguing to read and to know that how could a small breach can result into a disaster, and more importantly, how tough it could make the life of people around it.
The story keeps surprising readers from time travel to fighting strange persons from a doomed colony on moon. It unravels strange mysteries of time and it’s concept, preaches about bravery of Raven and Derek and their fascinating encounter with world renowned scientist Stephan Hawking. Author really knows how to paint a picture with words and he never missed on details and profound expression of speeches and events.
Finally, after enduring all the pain and danger, book has a happy ending and I would recommend this to anyone who has even slightest of their interest in mystery, programming, time travel and fictional characters with strange powers.
December 18, 2024
Interesting Story involving Time Travel and Programming
This book starts out a bit slow, but then dives headlong into a remarkable circumstance that just screams spies, sexual “Honey Traps”, computer phishing, tricking someone into providing top secret government file access, and so on. The more I read, the more the plot resembled real life “no-no”s for those of us who’d been given training on what NOT to do!!! However, the main character in this 21st Century tale was falling for every single request that would get any other (real) person locked up in a maximum security prison, then the key thrown away! Even worse, The Author had our ‘good guy’ quickly get on a plane trip out of the USA — another ‘no-no’ if you’ve got a Security Clearance — this is something you’d need to tell your boss(es) BEFORE you traveled … And, another weak link in The Author’s scheming, is “I removed the … data and replaced it with useless information.” … Sorry, but there are things called CRCs and other types of CheckSums that mathematically tabulate all Data and Code values, such that if you change ANYTHING (even upper case to lower case) — you change the CheckSums — so the change will be easily detectable, leaving tracks that The Author claimed would not be there …
I’m sorry to say that the book’s ‘Einstein’s Raven’ title didn’t really have much to do with Einstein — which was the main thing about the book that biased me towards reading it. However, the generic plot about Time Travel and saving the world was amusing — but it was not the most substantial story I’ve read — on the other hand, it was also not the worst …
Overall, I’d say ‘Yes — grab this book for a quick read’ and see what you think … I’ll be moving on to the 2nd book in the series, but no longer will have high expectations of being dazzled and enthralled.
This book starts out a bit slow, but then dives headlong into a remarkable circumstance that just screams spies, sexual “Honey Traps”, computer phishing, tricking someone into providing top secret government file access, and so on. The more I read, the more the plot resembled real life “no-no”s for those of us who’d been given training on what NOT to do!!! However, the main character in this 21st Century tale was falling for every single request that would get any other (real) person locked up in a maximum security prison, then the key thrown away! Even worse, The Author had our ‘good guy’ quickly get on a plane trip out of the USA — another ‘no-no’ if you’ve got a Security Clearance — this is something you’d need to tell your boss(es) BEFORE you traveled … And, another weak link in The Author’s scheming, is “I removed the … data and replaced it with useless information.” … Sorry, but there are things called CRCs and other types of CheckSums that mathematically tabulate all Data and Code values, such that if you change ANYTHING (even upper case to lower case) — you change the CheckSums — so the change will be easily detectable, leaving tracks that The Author claimed would not be there …
I’m sorry to say that the book’s ‘Einstein’s Raven’ title didn’t really have much to do with Einstein — which was the main thing about the book that biased me towards reading it. However, the generic plot about Time Travel and saving the world was amusing — but it was not the most substantial story I’ve read — on the other hand, it was also not the worst …
Overall, I’d say ‘Yes — grab this book for a quick read’ and see what you think … I’ll be moving on to the 2nd book in the series, but no longer will have high expectations of being dazzled and enthralled.
October 18, 2023
A Good Read
I enjoyed reading this story. I look forward to reading more by this author. Mr. Baker has a writing style that is comfortable. His character development is very interesting. Although at first glance the title does not reflect the actual story, it becomes clear as the story progresses. What was intriguing in the title that made me choose to read it turns out so differently. At first I felt deceived but by the end of the book I became a fan. Bravo Mr. Baker!
I enjoyed reading this story. I look forward to reading more by this author. Mr. Baker has a writing style that is comfortable. His character development is very interesting. Although at first glance the title does not reflect the actual story, it becomes clear as the story progresses. What was intriguing in the title that made me choose to read it turns out so differently. At first I felt deceived but by the end of the book I became a fan. Bravo Mr. Baker!
October 3, 2023
Very impressive and enjoyable
Raven and Dereck make quite the team. Two profound programmers exploiting systems to find the dangerous hackers. Pleasurable history of some of the greatest minds in mathmatics to find a tiny gem.
Tiny but large in its time defining energy. Great read.
Raven and Dereck make quite the team. Two profound programmers exploiting systems to find the dangerous hackers. Pleasurable history of some of the greatest minds in mathmatics to find a tiny gem.
Tiny but large in its time defining energy. Great read.
November 11, 2023
An enjoyable time
I was delighted to read this wonderful book. I was trained on supercomputers and spent more than 20 years working on them in a National lab.
The book reminded me of the great and not so good times.
The chapters just flew by...
I'm looking forward for sequel ...
THANKS.
I was delighted to read this wonderful book. I was trained on supercomputers and spent more than 20 years working on them in a National lab.
The book reminded me of the great and not so good times.
The chapters just flew by...
I'm looking forward for sequel ...
THANKS.
August 23, 2023
Interesting premise
I liked the idea of a time traveler who falls in love while on a mission. I didn't like all the technical computer details and I don't need to know what the characters are all the time. I liked the connections to all the mathematicians.
I liked the idea of a time traveler who falls in love while on a mission. I didn't like all the technical computer details and I don't need to know what the characters are all the time. I liked the connections to all the mathematicians.
September 14, 2023
Time
Some interesting theories on time travel, its possibilities and limitations. Good detective story combined with a boy meets girl. Computer programming is not my specialty, but concepts are kept simple. Also, I like happy endings.
Some interesting theories on time travel, its possibilities and limitations. Good detective story combined with a boy meets girl. Computer programming is not my specialty, but concepts are kept simple. Also, I like happy endings.
October 31, 2023
a Very readable book
At first, the plot was.just a repeat of the description. The as the plot evolved it became very interesting and suspenseful. The characters were endearing which made the reading even more interesting. In the end I was sorry that I reached the finish.
At first, the plot was.just a repeat of the description. The as the plot evolved it became very interesting and suspenseful. The characters were endearing which made the reading even more interesting. In the end I was sorry that I reached the finish.
July 13, 2024
Seems like it was written in the 80s. Woman is a secret agent yet naive and hot. It's so cliché from the get go. I didn't bother finishing reading it, it's like "Pretty Woman" from the future. Archaic concept.
December 4, 2024
Fun read
A beautiful quirky woman from the future shows up in 2019 and the adventure begins…. I found this to be a fun read and can recommend it to anyone who likes time travel stories.
A beautiful quirky woman from the future shows up in 2019 and the adventure begins…. I found this to be a fun read and can recommend it to anyone who likes time travel stories.
March 21, 2023
Interesting premise which fell apart about halfway through. Pedestrian.
May 24, 2023
I loved this book.
Everything about this book is why I like to read. I like the characters, the plot is engaging the twists are enjoyable and the ending is perfect.
Everything about this book is why I like to read. I like the characters, the plot is engaging the twists are enjoyable and the ending is perfect.
July 12, 2023
Great book, an easy read
Well written, with a good flow. Loved the computer science and physics aspects.
Well worth the time as it passed very quickly!
Well written, with a good flow. Loved the computer science and physics aspects.
Well worth the time as it passed very quickly!
November 25, 2023
Enjoyable
I have always been intrigued by time travel novels. When a romance is included, it makes it easier to get involved. Thanks for the fun read! Hope there are sequels soon!
I have always been intrigued by time travel novels. When a romance is included, it makes it easier to get involved. Thanks for the fun read! Hope there are sequels soon!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews