Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2017
400 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
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.
"Starred Review. A mind-bending read that will expand your perception of self." - Kirkus
"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
"[T]his is an upbeat and appealing overview of cutting-edge biomedical research. For popular science and consumer health readers." - Library Journal
"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
"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
"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
This information about The Body Builders was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Adam Piore is an award-winning journalist. A former editor and correspondent for Newsweek Magazine, his narrative features have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, Nautilus, Discover Magazine, Mother Jones, Playboy, Scientific American, the Atavist, BusinessWeek, and many others.
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