The book takes place in an alternative reality with the world powered by cold fusion and steam trains are still in use.

[1] Banville intended The Infinities as a faithful adaptation of the play Amphitryon by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist.

"[4] In Bookmarks May/June 2010 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.5 out of 5) with the summary stating, "Banville's modern-day retelling, however, with all its conceits of the classical gods' ability (or inability) to impersonate humans and its celestial-earthly humor, met with dissent from critics".

[6] "In the 1980s, Banville challenged his readers to imagine a Nabokov novel based on the life of a Gödel or an Einstein," wrote Irish literary critic Val Nolan in The Sunday Business Post.

Old Adam's lineage runs through Oppenheimer, Hilbert, Brahe, Kepler, and hence to Banville's so-called Revolutions Trilogy of science novels.