Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People
Author(s): 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.
General Information
- :
- : Vintage
- : Vintage
- : 0.366
- : 31 January 2012
- : United Kingdom
- : 30 April 2012
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Philip Ball
- : Paperback
- : 570.1
- : 384
More About The Product
A fascinating exploration of the cultural history of the creation of artificial people - what it tells us about our views on life, humanity, creativity and technology, and the soul.
Philip Ball is a writer and contributor to Nature, where he previously worked as an editor for physical sciences. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media, often combining the arenas of science and art, and delivers lectures with equal success at NASA and the V&A Museum. His many books include The Self-Made Tapestry, H2O: A Biography of Water, The Devil's Doctor, Critical Mass (winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books), Universe of Stone, Nature's Patterns and, most recently, the acclaimed The Music Instinct. Philip obtained a PhD in physics from the University of Bristol.
