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The Body Builders
Book

The Body Builders

Inside the Science of the Engineered Human

Adam Piore
Ecco, 2017

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

Moral questions surround bioengineering – the interface of science and biology. Will future interactions save people from disease and injury or spur exploitation of reengineered bodies and body parts by driven athletes and the immortality-seeking wealthy? Science journalist Adam Piore offers in-depth case studies of prominent bioengineers, their breakthroughs, real-life “superhumans” and ordinary people who are benefiting from bioengineering. Piore provides a glimpse into a not-so-distant future in which physical and mental “human augmentation” techniques will reverse brain damage, aid the paralyzed and enhance the lives of the healthy. Medical scientists work with biology-inspired robotics, stem cells, lab-grown organs, electrical brain implants, and other revolutionary technologies. Big-business interests and military research feature in Piore’s account of the race for body and mind augmentation. getAbstract recommends his consciousness-raising exploration to future-watchers, innovators, technologists and anyone who wants to know how much of the medical future is already here.

Take-Aways

  • Radical bioengineering blurs the boundary between human restorative treatment and self-directed “human augmentation.”
  • Rock-climbing aficionado Hugh Herr designs and uses advanced, biology-inspired robotic legs and augmentative exoskeletons.
  • The same biotech that created supermice may cure muscle-wasting diseases.

About the Author

Journalist and former Newsweek editor Adam Piore writes for Scientific American, Discover and Popular Science.

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