12/12/2016
In this accessible work on bioengineering, former Newsweek editor Piore documents where humans stand in our attempt to borrow—and build on—nature’s “sublime” healing solutions, which have been “refined by evolution over billions of years.” Piore’s aim is not to offer a clinical tome on scientific progress, but to reveal the “human spirit” that undergirds the search for ways to heal an array of debilitating physical and mental injuries and impairments. He checks in with researchers exploring a number of new technologies, including electrical deep brain stimulation, bionics derived from reverse-engineering the human body, and altering genetic details through “gene doping.” Piore also speaks to scientists tinkering with the human brain, “the world’s most sophisticated pattern recognition machine,” which plays a role in “amazing feats of associative learning” such as intuition and the ability of blind people to “see” when exposed to “soundscapes.” Piore makes a few overstatements, as when he writes that the human body “has been honed over millennia for maximum efficiency,” but his central conceit—that scientists may soon be successfully “hacking” the human body—is on point. Piore writes gracefully, and with deep insight, about complex scientific endeavors that could ease human suffering but are fraught with myriad ethical perils. (Mar.)
The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human
Narrated by Fred Sanders
Adam PioreUnabridged — 12 hours, 55 minutes
The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human
Narrated by Fred Sanders
Adam PioreUnabridged — 12 hours, 55 minutes
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Overview
For millennia, humans have tried-and often failed-to master nature and transcend our limits. But this has started to change. The new scientific frontier is the human body: the greatest engineers of our generation have turned their sights inward, and their work is beginning to revolutionize mankind.
In The Body Builders, Adam Piore takes us on a fascinating journey into the field of bioengineering-which can be used to reverse engineer, rebuild, and augment human beings-and paints a vivid portrait of the people at its center. Chronicling the ways new technology has retooled our physical expectations and mental processes, Piore visits people who have regrown parts of their fingers and legs in the wake of terrible traumas, tries on a muscle suit that allows him to lift ninety pounds with his fingertips, dips into the race to create “Viagra for the brain,” and shadows the doctors trying to give mute patients the ability to communicate telepathically.
As science continues to lay bare the mysteries of human performance, it is helping us to see-and exist-above our expectations. The Body Builders will take readers beyond the headlines and the hype to introduce them to the inner workings and the outer reaches of our bodies and minds, and explore how new developments are changing, and will forever change, what is possible for humankind.
Editorial Reviews
Engaging . . . [and] engrossing.” — New York Times Book Review
“This is a mind-blowing book about the human body. Piore takes us inside the technological revolution that is fixing broken limbs and enhancing the human body through bioengineering. He is pointing us to a future in which we will all have the ability to be Superman or Superwoman. Fascinating.” — Fareed Zakaria GPS Book of the Week
“A fascinating dive into what’s happening right now in bioengineering research — from brain-computer interfaces to bionic limbs — that will redefine human-machine interactions in the years to come.” — Salon
“A spellbinding journey into the field of bioengineering.” — The Daily Beast
“Piore’s informative and optimistic account will fascinate popular-science fans and all readers following developments in therapeutics.” — Booklist
“An upbeat and appealing overview of cutting-edge biomedical research.” — Library Journal
“Mind-blowing. Piore tells the stories of the doctors and engineers and patients who are together part of an amazing scientific revolution. A wonderful book that will excite your intellect and emotions.” — Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post American World
“An exhilarating look. . . . A mind-bending read that will expand your perception of self.” — Kirkus (Starred Review)
“Piore writes gracefully, and with deep insight, about complex scientific endeavors that could ease human suffering but are fraught with myriad ethical perils.” — Publishers Weekly
“Adam Piore is a gifted and assiduous reporter. He embeds himself in frightening and complicated places and he gets the story.” — Jon Ronson, author of So You've Been Publicly Shamed
“The Body Builders reveals a fresh and surprisingly moving tale of people fighting against the odds to overcome their limitations and the visionary inventors with a passion to help them.” — Fred Guterl, author of The Fate of the Species
“Deftly captures the lives of remarkable people propelled by circumstance and their own considerable courage onto the blazing frontier of science and medicine. . . . a profound look at what the future holds not only for the disabled but for all humanity.” — Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store
“The Body Builders is revelatory. . . . . After reading about the untapped powers within us, you’ll come away with a profound appreciation for the reserves of strength and creativity we all hold but, in all likelihood, never dreamed of.” — Sharon Begley, author of Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain
“Adam Piore has created an often-inspiring and always-enthralling portrait of a world where the blind see with sound, a boy remembers every day of his life and a man with paralyzing Lou Gehrig’s Disease can manipulate objects with nothing more than his brain. A captivating read.” — Bill Mesler, coauthor of A Brief History of Creation
“The Body Builders does what all great books do: They shock us and then make us believe in the future. Piore tells us about the radical science and tech that just a few years ago was science fiction, but now is starting to make it’s way into mainstream society.” — Zoltan Istvan, author of The Transhumanist Wager and founder of the Transhumanist Party
This is a mind-blowing book about the human body. Piore takes us inside the technological revolution that is fixing broken limbs and enhancing the human body through bioengineering. He is pointing us to a future in which we will all have the ability to be Superman or Superwoman. Fascinating.
Engaging . . . [and] engrossing.
A spellbinding journey into the field of bioengineering.
A fascinating dive into what’s happening right now in bioengineering research — from brain-computer interfaces to bionic limbs — that will redefine human-machine interactions in the years to come.
Piore’s informative and optimistic account will fascinate popular-science fans and all readers following developments in therapeutics.
Adam Piore is a gifted and assiduous reporter. He embeds himself in frightening and complicated places and he gets the story.
Mind-blowing. Piore tells the stories of the doctors and engineers and patients who are together part of an amazing scientific revolution. A wonderful book that will excite your intellect and emotions.
Deftly captures the lives of remarkable people propelled by circumstance and their own considerable courage onto the blazing frontier of science and medicine. . . . a profound look at what the future holds not only for the disabled but for all humanity.
Adam Piore has created an often-inspiring and always-enthralling portrait of a world where the blind see with sound, a boy remembers every day of his life and a man with paralyzing Lou Gehrig’s Disease can manipulate objects with nothing more than his brain. A captivating read.
The Body Builders does what all great books do: They shock us and then make us believe in the future. Piore tells us about the radical science and tech that just a few years ago was science fiction, but now is starting to make it’s way into mainstream society.
The Body Builders reveals a fresh and surprisingly moving tale of people fighting against the odds to overcome their limitations and the visionary inventors with a passion to help them.
The Body Builders is revelatory. . . . . After reading about the untapped powers within us, you’ll come away with a profound appreciation for the reserves of strength and creativity we all hold but, in all likelihood, never dreamed of.
Piore’s informative and optimistic account will fascinate popular-science fans and all readers following developments in therapeutics.
01/01/2017
Journalist Piore (contributing editor, Popular Science, Discover) expands previous articles about human limb regeneration and "telepathic" soldiers (among other topics) and examines additional uses of technology to improve movement, sensation, and thought. The author dispatches commendably accessible (and much-needed) background information on physiology, human development, and neuroscience. But his primary emphasis are the innovative researchers, clinicians, and adventurous patients who venture together into the search for cures for disease and disability. Some comments may come across as ageist or ableist. Compared to Malcolm Gay's more focused The Brain Electric: The Dramatic High-Tech Race To Merge Minds and Machines, this title is considerably weaker in coverage of political, social, and economic issues. Ethical questions are better addressed by Michael Bess's Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future. Surgical patients and their caretakers may feel Piore downplays the significant risks associated with various medical procedures (particularly invasive brain operations). Nevertheless, this is an upbeat and appealing overview of cutting-edge biomedical research. VERDICT For popular science and consumer health readers. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/16.]—Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
★ 2016-12-07
An exhilarating look at the cutting edge of bioengineering and how science and medicine are pushing the boundaries of human potential. At the heart of journalist Piore's story are the people driving this biomedical revolution—both the scientists and the patients who benefit from their innovative problem-solving. The insight, perseverance, and resilience of both groups drive the field's rapid progress and reveal something profound about the elasticity of the mind and its relationship with the body. A figure such as the Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who lost both legs as an infant yet achieved success as an athlete in ways that would have been impossible even 25 years ago, is just one example of the astounding progress that has been made in compensating for devastating injuries. By merging discerning science reporting with capable storytelling, the author—a former editor and correspondent for Newsweek who has written for Conde Nast Traveler, Mother Jones, and other publications—goes beyond external physical augmentation or repair and investigates how scientists are "hacking into the body itself and rewriting or redirecting the body's cellular instruction manuals…coercing the body to rebuild or transform itself." Consequently, ideas typically limited to science fiction are becoming reality: a blind person "seeing" with her ears; extrasensory perception; editing the genome to cure disease; a "memorization pill"; and the potential for deep brain stimulation to correct neurological conditions are just a few of the very real current advances in biomedicine. Even creativity is implicated in the potential to engineer our abilities. Such progress is not without some heady ethical considerations, which Piore handles deftly, but it's hard to finish the book without feeling excited about the possibilities for new science to profoundly help patients with debilitating conditions lead connected lives. A mind-bending read that will expand your perception of self.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170095667 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 03/14/2017 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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