The Body Builders

December 12, 2016
In this accessible work on bioengineering, former Newsweek editor Piore documents where humans stand in our attempt to borrow—and build on—nature’s “sublime” healing solutions, which have been “refined by evolution over billions of years.” Piore’s aim is not to offer a clinical tome on scientific progress, but to reveal the “human spirit” that undergirds the search for ways to heal an array of debilitating physical and mental injuries and impairments. He checks in with researchers exploring a number of new technologies, including electrical deep brain stimulation, bionics derived from reverse-engineering the human body, and altering genetic details through “gene doping.” Piore also speaks to scientists tinkering with the human brain, “the world’s most sophisticated pattern recognition machine,” which plays a role in “amazing feats of associative learning” such as intuition and the ability of blind people to “see” when exposed to “soundscapes.” Piore makes a few overstatements, as when he writes that the human body “has been honed over millennia for maximum efficiency,” but his central conceit—that scientists may soon be successfully “hacking” the human body—is on point. Piore writes gracefully, and with deep insight, about complex scientific endeavors that could ease human suffering but are fraught with myriad ethical perils.

Starred review from December 15, 2016
An exhilarating look at the cutting edge of bioengineering and how science and medicine are pushing the boundaries of human potential. At the heart of journalist Piore's story are the people driving this biomedical revolution--both the scientists and the patients who benefit from their innovative problem-solving. The insight, perseverance, and resilience of both groups drive the field's rapid progress and reveal something profound about the elasticity of the mind and its relationship with the body. A figure such as the Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who lost both legs as an infant yet achieved success as an athlete in ways that would have been impossible even 25 years ago, is just one example of the astounding progress that has been made in compensating for devastating injuries. By merging discerning science reporting with capable storytelling, the author--a former editor and correspondent for Newsweek who has written for Conde Nast Traveler, Mother Jones, and other publications--goes beyond external physical augmentation or repair and investigates how scientists are "hacking into the body itself and rewriting or redirecting the body's cellular instruction manuals...coercing the body to rebuild or transform itself." Consequently, ideas typically limited to science fiction are becoming reality: a blind person "seeing" with her ears; extrasensory perception; editing the genome to cure disease; a "memorization pill"; and the potential for deep brain stimulation to correct neurological conditions are just a few of the very real current advances in biomedicine. Even creativity is implicated in the potential to engineer our abilities. Such progress is not without some heady ethical considerations, which Piore handles deftly, but it's hard to finish the book without feeling excited about the possibilities for new science to profoundly help patients with debilitating conditions lead connected lives. A mind-bending read that will expand your perception of self.

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January 1, 2017

Journalist Piore (contributing editor, Popular Science, Discover) expands previous articles about human limb regeneration and "telepathic" soldiers (among other topics) and examines additional uses of technology to improve movement, sensation, and thought. The author dispatches commendably accessible (and much-needed) background information on physiology, human development, and neuroscience. But his primary emphasis are the innovative researchers, clinicians, and adventurous patients who venture together into the search for cures for disease and disability. Some comments may come across as ageist or ableist. Compared to Malcolm Gay's more focused The Brain Electric: The Dramatic High-Tech Race To Merge Minds and Machines, this title is considerably weaker in coverage of political, social, and economic issues. Ethical questions are better addressed by Michael Bess's Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future. Surgical patients and their caretakers may feel Piore downplays the significant risks associated with various medical procedures (particularly invasive brain operations). Nevertheless, this is an upbeat and appealing overview of cutting-edge biomedical research. VERDICT For popular science and consumer health readers. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/16.]--Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono

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