Author:Philip Ball
Can we make a human being?
The question has been asked for many centuries, and has produced recipes ranging from the clay golem of Jewish legend to the mass-produced test-tube babies in Brave New World. Unnatural delves beneath the surface of the cultural history of 'anthropoeia' - the artificial creation of people - to explore what it tells us about our views on life, humanity, creativity and technology, and the soul.
Philip Ball traces the threads that link the legendary inventor Daedalus, Goethe's tragic Faust, the automata-making magicians of E.T.A. Hoffman and Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein. He argues that these old tales and myths are alive and well, subtly manipulating the current debates about assisted conception, embryo research and human cloning, which have at last made the idea of 'making people' into flesh and blood reality.
Unnatural is a beautifully written, deeply intelligent book that will force every reader to rethink at least some of their preconceptions
—— Jim Endersby , Sunday TelegraphThe 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.
—— Peter Conrad , ObserverA 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
—— Stuart Kelly , Scotland on SundayMeticulous, witty and sometimes provocative
—— Patrick Skene Catling , Sunday TimesLabelling 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.
—— Marek Kohn , IndependentPhilip Ball presents the ethical dilemmas, ancient and modern, with intelligence and assurance
—— The TimesFascinating book
—— Jonathan Ree , Evening StandardBall'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.
—— Manjit Kumar , GuardianBall's assiduously science-literature approach is very welcome
—— Roy Wilkinson , The WordFascinating
—— Jonathan Ree , ScotsmanIf 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
—— Michele Pridmore-Brown , Times Literary SupplementThe most polymathic science writer of our time
—— Peter Forbes , Independent, Books of the YearAn engaging and lively account of an endlessly curious man
—— IndependentA 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
—— Saskia Sassen (author of TERRITORY, AUTHORITY, RIGHTS)Throw out your old atlas. The new version is here
—— Walter Kirn (author of UP IN THE AIR)Kasarda ... and Lindsay convincingly put the airport at the centre of modern urban life
—— EconomistHighly recommended
—— Library Journal
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