Unnatural is a beautifully written, deeply intelligent book that will force every reader to rethink at least some of their preconceptions

The two cultures of science and art are not antagonists, divergent in their aims and mutually unintelligible: they happily cohabit inside Ball's compendious, eclectic head.

A brave, sane and intellectually nimble account of a topic which only gets more ambiguous with each scientific advance. Unnatural is fascinating and engaging, and a polemic only for cool heads and open hearts when dealing with issues of such serious and profound complexity

Meticulous, witty and sometimes provocative

Labelling Ball a science writer sells his writing short, for its value lies above all in a range that dissolves the awkward silences between science and the larger culture of which it is part.

Philip Ball presents the ethical dilemmas, ancient and modern, with intelligence and assurance

Fascinating book

Ball's thoughtful book is a reminder that as we try and deal with how to enable and assist people into being, we need to understand and then conquer our fears surrounding the very idea of making people.

Ball's assiduously science-literature approach is very welcome

Fascinating

If Ball's book is an entertaining romp across centuries and genres, it also has a target...What Ball does so effectively...is to show why language and stories matter- in effect, why humanities matter

The most polymathic science writer of our time

An engaging and lively account of an endlessly curious man

A fascinating window into the complex emergent urban future. This book is an extremely sophisticated, often devastatingly witty and ironic, interpretation of what is possible over the next two decades

Throw out your old atlas. The new version is here

Kasarda ... and Lindsay convincingly put the airport at the centre of modern urban life

Highly recommended