Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human

Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Personal Made Me More Human

Michael Chorost became a cyborg on October 1, 2001, the day his new fruit was booted up. Born hard of hearing in 1964, he went absolutely deaf in his thirties. Rather than live in silence, he selected to have a personal surgically embedded in his skull to artificially restore his hearing. This is the story of Chorost’s journey — from deafness to hearing, from human to cyborg — and how it transformed him. The melding of silicon and flesh has long been the stuff of science fiction. But as Chorost reveals in this witty, poignant, and illuminating memoir, fantasy is now giving way to reality.

Chorost found his new body mystifyingly mechanical: kitchen magnets stuck to his head, and he could plug himself directly into a CD player. His hearing was routinely upgraded with new software. All this forced him to confront complex questions about humans in the organisation age: When the senses become programmable, can we trust what they tell us about the world? Will cochlear implants destroy the signing deaf community? And above all, are cyborgs still human?

A brilliant dispatch from the technological frontier, Rebuilt is also an ode to sound. Whether Chorost is adjusting his software in a desperate attempt to make the world sound “right” again, exploring the neurobiology of the ear, or reflecting on the easy pleasure of his mother’s voice, he invites us to think about what we hear — and how we experience the world — in an altogether new way.

Brimming with insight and written with dry, self-deprecating humor, this quirky coming-of-age story unveils, in a way no other book has, the magnificent possibilities of a new technological era.

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The Great Terror: A Reassessment

The Great Terror: A Reassessment

The definitive work on Stalin’s purges, Robert Conquest’s The Great Terror was universally acclaimed when it first appeared in 1968. Edmund Wilson hailed it as “the only scrupulous, non-partisan, and sufficient book on the subject.” George F. Kennan, writing in The New York Times Book Review, noted that “one comes away filled with a sense of the relevance and immediacy of old questions.” And Harrison Salisbury called it “brilliant…not only an odyssey of madness, tragedy, and sadism, but a work of scholarship and literary craftsmanship.” And in current years it has received equally high praise in the Soviet Union, where it is now considered the dominance on the period, and has been serialized in Neva, one of their leading periodicals.

Of course, when Conquest wrote the original volume two decades ago, he relied heavily on unofficial sources. Now, with the advent of glasnost, an avalanche of new material is available, and Conquest has mined this enormous store to write a substantially new edition of his classic work. It is remarkable how many of Conquest’s most disturbing conclusions have born up under the light of fresh evidence. But Conquest has added enormously to the detail, including hitherto secret information on the three great “Moscow Trials,” on the fate of the executed generals, on the methods of obtaining confessions, on the purge of writers and other members of the intelligentsia, on life in the fag camps, and many other key matters.

Both a leading Sovietologist and a highly respected poet, Conquest here blends profound research with evocative prose, providing not only an authoritative statement of Stalin’s purges, but also a compelling and eloquent chronicle of one of this century’s most tragic events. A timely revision of a book long out of print, this updated version of Conquest’s classic work will interest both readers of the early volume and an entirely new generation of readers for whom it has not been readily available.

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Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (P.S.) Reviews

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (P.S.)

The genome’s been mapped.
But what does it mean?

Arguably the most significant scientific discovery of the new century, the mapping of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes that make up the human genome raises nearly as many questions as it answers. Questions that will profoundly impact the way we think about disease, about longevity, and about free will. Questions that will affect the rest of your life.

Genome offers breathtaking insight into the ramifications of this astounding breakthrough. By picking one newly discovered gene from apiece pair of chromosomes and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. From Huntington’s disease to cancer, from the applications of gene therapy to the horrors of eugenics, Matt Ridley probes the scientific, philosophical, and moral issues arising as a result of the mapping of the genome. It will help you comprehend what this scientific milestone means for you, for your children, and for humankind.

Science writer Matt Ridley has found a way to tell someone else’s story without being accused of plagiarism. Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters delves deep within your body (and, to be fair, Ridley’s too) looking for dirt dug up by the Human Genome Project. Each chapter pries one gene out of its chromosome and focuses on its role in our development and adult life, but also goes further, exploring the implications of genetic research and our swiftly changing social attitudes toward this information. Genome shies away from the “tedious biochemical middle managers” that only a nerd could love and instead goes for the A-material: genes associated with cancer, intelligence, sex (of course), and more.

Readers unfamiliar with the argot of genetic research needn’t fear; Ridley provides a quick, clear guide to the few words and concepts he must use to translate hard science into English. His writing is informal, relaxed, and playful, guiding the reader so effortlessly through our 23 chromosomes that by the end we wish we had more. He believes that the Human Genome Project will be as world-changing as the splitting of the atom; if so, he is helping us prepare for exciting times–the hope of a cure for cancer contrasts starkly with the horrors of newly empowered eugenicists. Anyone interested in the future of the body should get a head begin with the clever, engrossing Genome. –Rob Lightner

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