The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life

by Robert O. Becker, Gary Selden, Maria D. Guarnaschelli (Editor)

"In this landmark book, Robert O. Becker, M.D., a pioneer in the field of bioelectric science, presents a fascinating look at the role electricity plays in healing, challenging the traditional mechanistic model of the body. Colorful and controversial, this is a tale of engrossing research, scientific and medical politics, and breakthrough discoveries that offer new possibilities for fighting disease and harnessing the body's healing powers.

Genres: Science, Health, Nonfiction, Biology, Spirituality, Bodies, Medical

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humans are always energized and without it, we couldn´t exist.

One could certainly try to interpret many esoteric aspects in this book, but I want to focus on the already elder science it mentions and what it might bring in the future because the great thing is, as in so many areas, that we hardly know anything.

There is no esoteric mumbo jumbo or stuff like that and the author tried to widen the range of medical treatments and dedicated his life to a field of science that will maybe be understood in centuries. Because it´s not just about electricity, one could easily take any other force and try to understand it´s influence down all orders of magnitude until down to the quanta level.

How the body, brain and nerves take advantage of electricity, is for the most part in the realm of the dark and unknown. Hypothetically, various radiations and more and more electrosmog could disrupt the evolved, biological circuits. Sensitivity and perceptual capacity vary from person to person, so that diseases could not be an issue for less sensitive people. Electrosensitive, on the other hand, is a torment that can massively affect life and only a few remaining areas without electrosmog give relief to the afflicted persons.

In this great field trial, one does not know, either internally or externally, what could grow out of it. In the body, a not understood system is metaphorically crackling around and in the networked world, waves about waves of various frequencies and ever-increasing bandwidths are permeating the body. Whether and how it comes to interactions, reinforcements, interferences, disorders or even epigenetic effects on the brain and possibly reproductive organs, is uncertain.

In animals that are strongly based on the Earth's magnetic field or not yet known senses, more and more radiation emissions could also cause confusion and problems, maybe until extinction.

Unfortunately, much of this field was used for questionable esotericism and charlatanry so that it became contaminated terrain nobody wants to deal with because of the fear of losing reputation. That´s too bad because there are so many open possibilities for interpretation.

Manipulating the body's electrical machinery is too unattractive to let it unused. This opens up space for too little power as well as overcharging. Purely speculative, these scenarios are likely to look like this. Reducing voltage undersupplies areas and brain performance or the functioning of the whole nervous system is reduced. If you put in more juice than the lines can tolerate, one or the other will burn through or even catch fire, metaphorically again. But what is possible and useable to increase performance, will be made. And nobody reasonably takes power out of his car or PC for a longer, but less strong performance, but tunes and overclocks instead. The same will be done by people more or less voluntary.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real-life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelec...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophysics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelec...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an interesting and compelling read. After detailing some fascinating experiments on regrowing limbs and detailing the electrical systems of animals the author explains that there is a massive bias towards establishment and authority rather than facts. Medicine is operating more like a religion than a science and new ideas are suppressed or ridiculed and their originators often punished.

Scientists' pronouncements are often self serving and misleading. We're learning more and more about less and less. Studies on trivial topics are often funded while important research gets no support as it threatens the status quo. Yet the public largely thinks that the study of medicine is based on science and logic.

This book explains that promise of a future of golden health and extended life thanks to wonder drugs and fancy new surgical techniques and the like turns out to be empty. The body has an amazing capacity to heal, but only if we give it the tools it needs to do so - adequate nutrition and all the necessary vitamins and minerals etc.

Keeping pollution to tolerable levels is also vital for health and EMF pollution, the author explains, is at least as dangerous as air pollution or common toxic exposures. At the moment we're all participating in a giant experiment to see how harmful EMFs really are. We need to know more about EMF issues but a multitude of risks are well already well documented. For more on this topic including practical tips on minimising the health problems EMFs can cause the book on 'grounding' called Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? by Martin Zucker is worth a read.

Lots of drawings and descriptions of cutting off limbs from frogs and salamanders are included in the first part of the book. Readers squeamish about animal experiments may find parts of this book difficult to read.

Reading the findings and also problems and unfair criticism and political opposition faced by those with genuinely new ideas on health and healing is wonderful and inspiring but also somewhat depressing. We need many more scientists with this much integrity, intelligence, logic and insight to even make a dent in the corrupt corporate medicine system we have. Year after year the quality of medical studies gets worse. The drugs-are-the answer-for everything marketing hype gets ever more shrill and monotonous and detracts ever more from real medicine based on reason and scientific fact.

Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E. (HFME) and Health, Healing & Hummingbirds (HHH)

[Steven Magee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book! I received a toxic brain exposure in 2009 from a high powered utility solar photovoltaic system that I was commissioning that left me with significant memory issues. This was one of the many books that I purchased to try and understand what had happened to me. The book does a good job of explaining the research that the authors were performing in the area of electrical cellular regeneration and the techniques that they were using. Today, we know that irradiating water with certain radio frequencies can alter the growth rates of mammals that drink it! The book is a good overview about what was known in 1985 and it is surprising to see how much was known back then and the extensive denials of this information that corporations and governments are routinely engaging in today. As Devra Davis states "Most people have no idea that OSHA is a ghost and has been so for years". Since that time cell phones, cell phone towers and radio frequency (RF) transmitting meters have come along and our knowledge has progressed. I found that I had to develop my own knowledge in this area to deal with the more recent environmental exposures that this book does not cover. This book is an excellent foundation in the electrical dynamics of the human body that you would want to supplement with the more recent health books regarding alternate energy systems, cellular communications and transmitting RF utility meters.

[Jim Bouchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before Robert Becker there was little if any acknowledgement of the bio-electric characteristics of the human body. Like many visionaries, Becker paid a high price for his discoveries.

Now bio-electricity is an integral component to modern medical treatment. This is a book about the science, but also about Becker's dealings with a government that hired him to study the effects of radio frequency radiation on the human body- and punished him when they didn't like his results; results that are now considered fact.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never had a book change my entire view of the world like this one did. Unfortunately, it has shaken my faith in our medical and research system to the core, because it tells a tale of the politics and ego that prevent medical research on the cutting edge from even making it to the doctor's office. In meticulous detail, through the presentation of study after study performed in top labs and published in prestigious journals such as Science and Nature, Dr. Becker reveals a world where the processes of all living cells are controlled by electricity.

It is electricity that enables plants to regrow leaves, salamanders to regrow limbs and bones to heal, and Becker shows how it could be used for regrowth of every organ in the body, including the human brain. It is electricity more than DNA that determines the identity and function of every cell in the body-- an animal's electromagnetic field is the morphogenetic organizing principle of the body. This idea is still resisted to this day, despite of all the evidence.

We all have an electric charge and depend on the electromagnetic field of the earth for all of our bodily functions, including sleeping and the coordination of our immune system. Our brain sends a current down our body, and we can change the potential of our body with thoughts. Postitive thoughts create negative current and vice versa. Because positive potentials appear from cells when injured and negative current enables healing, our own thoughts can have a healing effect, which explains the placebo effect. Also, our bodily current actually runs through the acupuncture meridians, as measured by Dr. Becker.

Surprisingly, modern medicine still has no idea what pain is or how it works. Dr. Becker present amazing evidence that all it is is a change in the electrical field of our bodies.

You may wonder, with all of the amazing research in this book, why is none of it in the news or being worked on in labs, especially considering that Becker's research was meticulously performed and published in top journals. Sadly, it's all politics and ego. All great scientists are laughed at and dismissed. And yet, holistic medicine is currently moving more and more towards energy medicine, with the discovery of earthing and use of energy healers and crystals. Maybe these crazy hippies are on to something, and they will lead the way to a healthier future for all of us.

[Karch Gajdos · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a bit technical and very physicsy in the beginning but wow does Dr. Becker just blow your mind as to what the human body is capable of. Then scattered throughout is a story of how the true scientist is dead and does not exist in today day and age. A must read for anyone wanting to know more about electromagnetism and how it relates to the body.

[Cynema · Rating 5 out of 5]

EYE-OPENING CONCEPTS ABOUT SELF-HEALING

The power of energy is just as profound in humans as in nature. What if the link between electromagnetism and electricity could enable us to heal ourselves through self-regeneration? Such is the premise of this fascinating book by renowned medical researcher Robert O. Becker, a pioneer in regeneration. His books should be required reading for anyone hopeful about our future health and a willingness to think outside the box about our bodies and what we currently know and/or believe about medicine and healing.

This book mesmerizes with revolutionary ideas in human biology and medicine -- a theory based on the author’s extensive lab experiments in regeneration that have led to some radical thinking about human healing, health and longevity. As lives are longer and diseases ever rampant, such thought-provoking concepts about the potential for “self-healing” offer an alternative to life and longevity as we know it. Becker makes compelling arguments about the bioelectric nature of humans and the essential nature of “electricity” to human life. Harnessing these elements in targeted ways means the possibility of self-healing. It’s hard to deny the sense this eye-opening information makes, and also the establishment forces opposed to it. For me, it redefined how I look at the treatment for every illness, infection, disease and injury. If a star fish can grow new limbs, or salamander grow two heads where there was only one … why can’t humans harness bioelectricity for basic healing, curing cancer, or regenerating limbs?

The experiments are complex, the information detailed but readily understandable, and I came away as a mind-blown convert to the potential of a radically different way to look at human healing and longevity that seems within arm’s reach.

[Katja Vartiainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really fascinating. Written by a M.D. Becker and journalist Gary Selden about the electric properties of the human and animal bodies in regard to regeneration, healing, and health. It traces his won life work in research. You get some basic classes of electricity and biology in the beginning, which I needed...Becker explains in detail his researches, his application for grants, his obstacles with the consensus science community in his path, the absurd power struggle he faced. He often wasn't even given a chance to show his theories in practice, because scientific institutions stopped being scientific. I learned so much. Sure, when tired, it at times became difficult to read.The final chapters are really intriguing. The research of the effects of the frequency bombardment we are living in is almost non-existant. Becker does show us that what is known, is that the cocktail of different frequencies, in which we live in- since man, this book was written before that mobile phones, wifi's and laptops- has menacing effects on our cellular health. Also the weaponizing of frequencies is pretty worrying. As I was reading this, there came in the news about the 'sonic attack' on the embassy of USA in China. The book contains a similar story of the USA embassy in Russia. I really hope somebody continues this work- for the possibilites of regeneration of tissues- as they do with stem and fat cells- and for our health. We will really see the effects in couple of decades. Of course the question will be what has caused what. In our age of electric and magnetic currents, GM food, pollution, stress, and poverty, naming the cause will be another circus. Anyway, very refreshing read by a scientist who had an open mind and right motivation, as every scientist should. - I had to add that most of the experiments have been done on animals in this book. Being mostly vegetarian/ free chicken eggs, etc, it did raise the question: do we have the right? But I always feel, I cannot say, because I am on insulin and THAT came from a bunch of animal testing.

[Nothanks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through first hand accounts you get to witness a scientist on the fringe break new ground and eventually redefine the constructs of conventional medicine. Robert Becker was a true pioneer and persevered with his unique research in the face of much skepticism and academic group-think. This book is life changing and I would recommend it to anyone. Somewhat old but still hugely relevant and significant, the studies presented here are essential cornerstones of a now burgeoning field. If you have ever wondered what role electricity plays in the body or how different forms of radiation affect physiology - this book will answer many of your questions and inspire many new ones.

[Zwart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a second time. First was when I was just getting into the Arp and a lot was lost on me due to everything coming at me. After re-reading, I can see why it was so important on the list from Denis. There are so many questions raised toward the end of the book about electro pollution that are still ignored and unanswered....and the book was written in 1985. Shows a very sad research community and the politics involved in them. If you have any health problems or questions, I would recommend reading this to give yourself a new perspective on conventional medicine and why it doesn't work very well.

[Stephen Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there haven't been improvements in the world since this book was written (35 years ago), I shudder to think about the effects that the entire world is experiencing, unbeknownst to almost everyone. We can only hope there are more people like this trying to advance science for the good of humanity in the midst of the broken research system through which the author had to slog through his entire career.

Good, informative read with far-reaching consequences.

[James Harbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect real mad scientist book to get you in the mood for Halloween (Douglas Field's "Electric Brain" and Randi Hunter Epstein's "Aroused" are honorable mentions though the later cover's endocrinology's relationship with vivisection which is gruesome and not for the faint hearted... though early neurology is morbid in a different way). As a Veteran, the Doc's story is relatable as a good portion of it covers a the schizophrenic ridged bureaucracy for mind numbing slow procedures but also the glimmer of groundbreaking and state of the art research as the nation's guinea pigs. The book covers a wide rarity of topics as his original practice was in orthopedics (and the Piezoelectric explanation of collagen, copper, and calcium only one of many gems and another reason to stay active for bone density), as well as magnetic anesthesia, Nazi radiation regulations (they've probably been updated but it is clickbaity and true as thermal resonance was the only consideration), acupuncture points and charge, but the key piece as far as I am concerned is a detailed exploration of the phenomena of regeneration. So with that, I think there's way more work to be done in this field although he kind of killed the initiative with other crusades that would have hampered DoD research (as well as increased corporate costs for things like power lines {the psydo-control example is brilliant example of deception or incompetance with the tests on monkeys} but only where applicable and not to the "Better Call Saul" psycosometic level).

Regeneration Revisited (Star Trek Healing)

* Social Proof - The biggest hurdle in discovery is like that of a treasure hunt: the world is a big place and only a mad man (or woman) would waste a lifetime looking with no map or story to narrow the location. Thankfully, the treasure of regeneration does have a vague location in abstract mental space with newt, flatworm, hydra, earthworm, toad, and frog islands. It only takes a you tube video to see how a gecko can be picked up by it's tail, detach it still twitching, and regenerate another later on. Creates like flatworms and microscopic hydra can be cut in half and still regrow both sides for two new creatures. Salamanders, newts, and the like are very gifted at regenerating whole limbs and he even lists cases of dissected hearts in these creatures being regenerated in a Lazarus Effect. Frogs and Toads are not as great at regeneration and tend towards regrowing stumps but missing digits and details so that hopping functionality is maintained even if form isn't. So with this variability the the doctor started digging deeper for the "potential" factors as to why certain species preformed this task better than others.

* The Process - The homo stasis charge polarity mapping is detailed enough in the book for many species (part of that mad scientist tome vibe) but the major pay dirt came in examining the damaged area's charge change over time. Normally, the outer extremities (distal for the medical nerd) are more negatively charged and the central (proximal) areas tend to be more positive. However, directly after a limb amputation, the polarity flipped and became extremely positive in charge. During this process, old damaged tissues withered (something like clearing a construction zone and sealing it off) and a thin layer of skin tissue formed as a cap. Below this cap, a blastema formed which is essentially a large blob of pluripotent cells at or stem cells. Without modern epigenetic research, the doc gives a good discription of how every cell in the body has the total blueprint to make any cell in the body. Yet from the fertilized egg onward, cells differentiate into more and more specific expressions of the DNA so as to eventuall become one type of cell like an individual leaf on a tree with the stem cell being like the trunk (Nessa Carey's "Junk DNA" goes over the complexities of this with things like long non coding RNA's coating large sections to make them inaccessible with other newly discovered processes) . Creatures like salamanders and frogs are able to form their blastemas by dedifferentiating their blood cells and modifying them from the leaf back to the trunk so they are ready to return to a new leaf in this blob of stem cells. Once the neurons link into the the dermis cap of the newly formed blastema the charge suddenly switches from positive to highly negative and the the cells in the blastema change into the exact cells need to fit next to their neighbors and the process grows the limb back a layer of cells at a time (that part is not totally clear since this was 60-70s level tech).

*Experiments with Observations
The major factor variable and correlation the Doc noticed was that salamander tended to have a high polarity and duration of their negative regeneration charge and also had fuller and more detailed regeneration results. So he tested the hypotheses that charge was a major causal variable (This being a causation test of Judea Pearl's "Do Operator" from the "Book Of Why") on frogs and toads. With a slight modifications on current delivery and cathode and anode choice metals (he's a big proponent of silver) he was indeed able to increase amount and digit development with higher and longer negative charges (with more of those eerie DaVinchi-esk diagrams). He details how he was able to get a slight increase in mice regeneration from what the amputated stump would have been without the added charge (yes... animles where injured and killed in this book... thus the mad scientist thing).

Modern Updates -
The mammal issue was a large problem for Becker back in the day despite the modest regeneration of the mice. Mammals do have (x)blasts like fibroblasts or other cells that are not differentiated to the level of leaves but not dedifferntiated to the level of the trunk... they're like branches and can travel paths to replace certain types of cells (the literal version of the metaphorical leaf once more). The big problem is that mammals had an evolutionary trade off in that our red blood cells lose their nucleus and can carry extra hemoglobin for transportation efficiency (the warm blooded thing). Most of the time that's a decent trade but the salamander's position looks a lot better when it loses a limb and has a system to deliver a constant supply of mobile cells to transform into stem cells anywhere in the body since they still have an inefficient nucleus. However, humans are incredibly intelligent when they choice to be and the need to become lizard people isn't necessary. Recently, Dr. Shinya Yamanaka discovered four protein transcription factors known as the Yamanaka(Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc) which can dedifferentiate any human cell back to a stem cell. This is amazing unto itself as stem cells are general cure all and being able to take them from the person means they'll have the same major histocompatibility complex 1 so the body won't attack them (and none of the ethical implications or perverse incentives of gathering them from fetuses... the cringe). So someones skin cells (something easy to harvest) can be extracted and then regressed to stem cells with their own DNA and be cultured to produce induced pluritpotent stem cell as describe in Nessa Carey's "The Epigenetics Revolution." They're not quite a wonder cure yet as they can become cancerous and all the bugs aren't worked out but Nessa Carey's "Junk DNA" text does update how (look it up... lncRNA) can helps to stabilize the transition. There's obviously a need to revisit what's going on a molecular level with the neuronal linkages to the dermis cap and how cells read which ways to differentiate in the blastema (it seems to be the neighbor as he let the blasema form but note before the shift on a limb and grafted it on a tail and it turned into a second tail but when it grew a little it turned into a limb on the tail). Yet it should be that hard with modern technology in the form of sensitive lab equipment, machine learning, and synthetic biology to perfect a technique that could mimic this process and regrow limbs for amputees.

*Organs
In Mark Mindownik's "Stuff Matters," there's chapter on prosthetics and more specifically a 3d printed, dissoluble polymer scaffold for organs. The example is Professor Alex Seifalian's 2011 successful implant of a synthetically made windpipe (with said polymers structures and pluripotent cells from bone marrow known as mesenchymal cells). The process doesn't have a lot of details since it is one of many in the chapter and probably has trade secrets... but still. The process could no doubt be improved with a further study of natural regeneration in nature with the aid of induced pluripotent stem cells and what I'm guessing had to not only be a scaffold but continual nutrient supply and sterilization process that is a marvel. Mindownik lists out the benefits of such technology as transplant organs have different MCH1s and the immune system with attack them so immunosuppressant drug need to be used that put the patient at increases risk of pathogens... but also that the demand is much greater than supply for long waiting lists which can mean death... but also that this can make for a lucrative black market for organs which has unintended consequences for innocent victims... so the research for this umbrella tech with all it's necessary sub-components have a synergistic benefit network.

*Paralysis
This is just an aside but but I remember there being a portion on spinal cord injuries and how they nerve in it's (epithelial... glial?) sheath remains separated but if if the tube is connected and both ends can fire in synchrony, the nerve can be rejoined (though their might have been something on scar tissue). I both books are out of country so this is out of memory but Field's "Electric Brain" had an interesting case study that might open a door to healing paralysis based on these observations. Towards the end of the book he covers how a paralyzed man was given a BCI (Brain Computer Interface) that was coupled to machine learning so his motor commands could be understood from the implant. Next his arms had small electrodes on the small muscles controlling his heads and the the computer with shock the muscle from signal the motor cortex was giving... the interesting part was that after some time (if I remember right) the man didn't need the interface for movement though I can't remember to what degree. The point being that if you could take a paralyzed individual, somehow read the motor cortex and then stimulate the neurons below the break after treatment of the spinal scar tissue (of just use stem cells) to rejoin the main nerve and mobility but not through mechanical means of surgery (once again, he has a cool dialog on bone's self healing property though a little guidance is nice)... please read the texts for accuracy if you're interested in these abstractly... embryonic... fields

*Most likely Reason for Charge Influence -
In J.E. Gordon's "Structures" (a lesser mad scientist mention as their aren't gruesome experiments of the past but a similar vibes in comparisons with biological structures to materials science and engineering for a Frankenstein feel at time), he mentions who the unique tensile strength of surface tension and cellular life overlap. While other structures are brittle and require large amounts of energy to repair when damaged, water droplets can stretch a great deal and reform when brought back together. So the premise of life starting it's journey with water droplets with some protocols and slowly forming lipid layers with more complexity doesn't seem too far a stretch (mitosis of splitting droplets after accumulating so many chemicals in ratio like 'stabilizing the emulsions' with charges from ions he mentions). So with that their are some great works on the many geometric-molecular-energy structures (crystal has become a wooy word though it's a shorter one) and the most pertinent is Gerald Pollock's "The Fourth Phase of Water." I've only skimmed it an watched videos but a main point is that the surface tension of water (or EZ layer) is a hexagonal patterned and negatively charged layer that is different from the positively charged "bulk water." Thus the correlation and more so causation as you can "do" variation in the charge and the strength of surface tension across two cups at corresponding differences. A similar finding can be visualized with Emoto Masura's "The Hidden Messages of Water" which has a sort of duality of pictures between orderly hexagonal snowflakes and disorganized blown out blobs. He notes that negative valence words and music produce the blobs and positive valence words, music, and prayer make a variety of snowflakes (a hexagonal crystal). I believe this happens as a correlation of the words with the activation of the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system which would alter the EM field of the pacemaker cells in the heart to reorient the little molecular triangles (two positive corners and one strong negative for the hexagonal form). This wouldn't be beyond the scope of Maxwell's Equations and an older Austrian gentlemen intuited the difference between "implosive" spirally verse "explosive" spirals (or vortexes) in Olof Alexandersson's "Living Water" (though more refinements of his methods seem necessary with some contradictions most likely due to multiple variables). So the gist of all that would start with the positive charge destabilizing the amputated area with a reduction in surfaces tension effecting the lipid membrane... the negative charge would bring back stability and perhaps add in growth somehow with a stronger than normal surface tension... there's also the matter of biophotonics on a different biological octive. In Bob Berman's "The Sun's Heartbeat" he mentions how calm water absorbs UV rays but harsh waves and mists can scatter it... using the polarity of the water that would mean more of less biophoton emission based on the structure of the water crystals.

[Lee]

I’m setting this aside for now because I just can’t stomach reading about more animal experiments. I made it halfway through. The thought process is very interesting but the doing is tough to read about. However, the successes they made in humans who had shattered bones that had refused to heal for months, and even years just using gentle electrical fields was amazing. The bottom line is, we are indeed, electrical beings. It makes sense that we can be recharged by our earth and even our sun. It also makes sense that we can be made ill by non-native electric interference. It is such a shame that this information has been known for over 40 years and yet we continue to create more and more electrical pollution, and then wonder why everyone feels bad all the time.

[Seemy · Rating 2 out of 5]

My goodness was this a difficult read! Was literally putting me to sleep at times and read more like a science textbook vs interesting read - better suited for enthusiasts and scientists who are in and interested in the primary topic and experiments discussed in this book, versus an ordinary guy like me who was just interested in learning more about environmental factors (like electricity as discussed in this book ) which can impact ones health...

Having said that I picked up this book as it came up as a recommendation from a similar book which explained how electronics / emf can impact the body and our health - which this book finally began to cover in simple terms towards the last quarter of the book ( the 1st 3/4s like I said were more like a text book which went in depth about the authors experiments of using electricity to aid in bone and tissue healing ) which was fine and interesting - but extremely lengthy and boring ...

The interesting bit came in the last quarter of this book which was an eye opener of how the increase of various electronics is increasing various types of waves like radio, emf etc and more and how it can impact the body negatively - what’s scary is the publication date of this book was when the problem was nowhere near the compounded electronic tech utopia and connected world we live in today ...

One must wonder and take caution as no doubt the prevalence of various sickness and disease certainly has risen in line with the increase use of tech and electricity - which are problematic to health as suggested by this book - and obviously evident in the world today - seems true there is indeed a correlation between health and electrical waves we are exposed to...

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Seemy
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[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becker and Selden go into some detail about some of the exciting discoveries in animal limb regeneration I had heard about in graduate school. But now there are also studies in human bone regeneration: The story of John in "The Silver Wand" was very exciting.

I found the research summaries in the area of electricity fascination. Unfortunately, the authors don't summarize main points at the end of the chapters and that would have helped a non-technical person like me. But I liked what I learned enough to want to go back and do that for myself.

[Michael DiTusa]

An orthopedist's observation and discovery of the body's electrical components and their implications in healing and disease. A nice introduction of electromagnetic fields, and their potential pernicious affects on the bodies biochemical system. Relatively easy reading. The first 60% of the book is a little tedious but don't fret if you pay close attention to some of the complex theories and hypothesis introduced, like a riddle they lead to the blossoming of some very intersting ideas. It seems to be a part 1 of a 2 book series by Dr. Robert Becker. Interesting stuff.

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book. Reliving the innovative experiments, witnessing breakthroughs in healing based on the research, all the way to the last chapters which are filled with surprises, really good science.

[Morgan Catha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on physiology I have ever read.

[C.A. Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost never read paperbacks anymore, but I did this one because there was no e-book option, and I'd heard from so many different places that it was one of the most important books on the subject of how electricity and biology interact that it became worth it. I'm in process of transposing my highlights to my Evernote notebook by hand...

Becker was, I believe after reading this, not just a brilliant scientist willing and able to think outside the box, but a man of integrity as well, willing to fight against the establishment and risk his career in order to do what he could to alleviate human suffering. His experiments proved, stunningly, that electricity is not just involved in, but the driving force in healing and even regeneration. He first established this with salamanders, known to regrow limbs after their loss. But then he was able to establish that the same thing was possible in mammals as well, provided the positive polarity electrical signal sent out from the adjacent nerves were not interfered with by allowing the wound to heal over too quickly. His one lasting contribution to medicine was that this approach made its way into mainstream orthopedics for non-healing fractures, and now electrical currents are used to stimulate bone healing, and he won a Nobel Prize for this. But he had such big dreams, of helping regrow limbs for human beings, or triggering healing within the spinal cord itself for those who had suffered spinal cord injuries. It certainly sounds to me like all of these things are possible, based on the studies he performed, but I've never heard of any of it before. It seems that research on all these frontiers completely stopped, possibly in the 80s, when Becker's research itself came to a halt.

Many of the powers-that-be came against him because Becker also used his insights into the power of electricity to heal to extrapolate that manmade electromagnetic frequencies could interfere with the body's own signaling processes, and cause potentially tremendous suffering. Here the book was a repeat of many others I've read on the damage from EMF, but it was grounded in the concept that frequencies can heal as well as harm. How do we know which will do which? It seems that is an area ripe for research, which (so far as I know) still isn't being done. The last chapter of the book was dedicated to all the political intrigue that conspired against him, and the psychological reasons behind it. Much of it, as Becker put it, wasn't so much about financial gain as it was just about pride. The 'establishment' did not want anyone to challenge their own contributions to academia, which meant that anyone with a revolutionary idea didn't get funding. Those who pandered to the existing power structure got grants, got published, and eventually made it into the pantheon of the old guard themselves... which only served to perpetuate the system. Eventually when a new idea couldn't be hushed up, the old guard would mock on one hand, while taking credit for their opponents' work on the other. Then of course, financial incentives of industry put pressure as well.

What all of this ultimately suggests to me is that a lot more miraculous things might be possible than we think, even from an objective scientific standpoint... but if it doesn't make it into the mainstream, for whatever nefarious reasons, the rest of us may never know.

[Tyler Hart-Loi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read. Was interested in how working at a powerplant was effecting my body and someone recommended this book. Essentially had autoimmune issues (hole from hair loss), massive stress, constant fatigue, severe anxiety (biting my nails off), injuries wouldn’t heal properly and my heart felt like it was off. Gained 20 pounds too even though I run marathons. My back also would kill me and there was nothing I could do to fix it.

This just highlighted exactly what I thought when I walked by my generator rotating magnet creating “power” @60 hz 800kW, a field at 3,000 RPM’s on a Caterpillar nat gas generator and thought it was weird that the air intake was pulling at my chest but there was no air intake grille there. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks that it was the electromagnetic field fucking up my insides from the rotation of the magnetic and the huge amounts of copper winding. The feeling is almost like when your stomach growls from being hungry but your heart goes through an exhaustion stage and your head gets foggy.

On the bright side I left my job thanks in part to my wife. Hopefully I don’t develop cancer or have kids with birth defects as a result of my Central Nervous System being fucked with for half a century.

I also bring this up bc the guy who taught at my union training school was convinced that he had a list of health issues because of working on high voltage systems. He use to take commercial high rise buildings out of the ground (like the pit in the ground) as the chief engineer in Manhattan, Long Island City and Queens in NYC. He recently had a heart attack and swears it was from working on high voltage systems.

I guess there was some merit to the tinfoil hat wearing jokes in the past. But what can you do? I’m not a medical researcher. I build these systems and run them. This subject is so taboo and because the force is invisible no one will bring it up. Plus electricians and engineers get paid really well so they keep their mouths shut. It’s a big conflict of interest to speaking up.

[Enoch Page]

This 1985 book explores from a medical viewpoint the body electric, a concept popularized in Walt Whitman's famous poem, 'I sing the body electric.' Long considered a myth, the body electric refers to healing electrical currents that flow naturally through the body. We are electromagnetic entities Dr. Becker and his co-author reveal. Their book begins with his early research into limb regeneration which made him aware, unexpectantly, of the role electricity plays in the regenerative properties of salamanders regrowing a lost tail. He came to realize their tail regrowth has much to do with electrical currents running through their nerves and creating an energy field around their tissues. Becker began to theorize that a bio-field seems to emanate from the body and all of its parts at every level of organization, which entails not just electricity in the nervous system but all around the body.

His cutting edge work offers insight into medical potentialities for tissue regeneration, for disease healing, and for the use of chi, sound vibration, and mental images to maintain a healthy body electric in ways reliant on the use of consciousness to direct bio-field energy as ancient wisdom suggests. Specifically, his work in medicine has been borne out by changing medical practice. A new form of energy medicine is emerging. Practitioners are coming to see consciousness plays a much larger role in healing than previously realized. The body's atoms, molecules, and cells have their own electrical response to our intention. Using sound, mental imagery or ancient practices like Qi Gong, one can cause nerve regeneration and other bodily healings that manipulate chi, the electromagnetic energy of our bodies' bio-field. For more on these advances that Becker's book points to, see Penny Price’s film entitled The Healing Field: Exploring energy and consciousness.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is something else, it manages to be riveting and interesting the entire time, despite being all based in real life scientific research (and scientific politics).
The book begins following the history of biology and all the cases in which dogmatism got in the way of progress, foreshadowing Becker's own troubles with the scientific establishment later in his career. It then takes you on journey from a young upstart scientist making new and groundbreaking discoveries in the field of the nervous system all the way until he becomes an older well respected scientist putting his reputation on the line in a high stakes political scientific battle with the US military over research into biological effects of EMF.
This book lays out without a doubt that EMF has real biological and ecological consequences that have been deliberately covered up by cooperation between the US military and the telecommunications industries infiltrating the scientific beurocracy and will leave you absolutely fuming that an institution we rely on so heavily to bring us trusted information can be so easily bought and paid for by governmental and corporate interests.
There is also endless amounts of fascinating research into taboo topics like accupunture meridians and alternate theories of evolution revolving around the properties of crystals and yet despite diving into these turbulent waters the authors remain level headed and grounded in science, making it clear what we actually know and what is conjecture.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the nervous system, EMF, the politics of science and an interest in the truth.

[Nathan Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The body electric is a fantastic book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is even slightly curious about limb regeneration, bioelectricity, electromagnetic fields and radiation.

Roughly the first half of the book is focused on expounding O'Becker's pioneering research with piezoelectricity and limb regeneration which is remarkable and more or less laid the foundations for the incredible cutting-edge research being conducted today by Dr Michael Levin.

The latter half of the book focused more on the implications of electromagnetic radiation in light of the enormous increase in usage across the glove after the World wars, and in particular, extra low frequency ELF radiation which has been shown to have dire effects on not only biological organisms but most likely the earth's own magnetic fields. O'Becker documented extensive research mainly carried out by scientists in the Soviet Union at the time which were major red flags concerning the grave health effects of microwave radiation and other wavelengths and frequencies which can also be used to affect cognition and ultimately can be used as weaponry.

The final part of the book is used to underscore the political agenda that permeates the scientific enterprise. O'Becker documents the many tricks and tactics deployed by those in positions of power who did not want him to make his research and warnings public. At almost every turn there was a new obstacle placed in his path and as he rightly points out, this is not an exception. Rather, it is more the rule.

[Harriet Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by an orthopedic surgeon, this book was absolutely*positively fascinating and thrilling! Who knew that if a child accidentally amputates a fingertip (by a door, lawnmower, electric fan, or other accident) that to re-attach by traditional surgical repair is the worst of solutions with lifelong negative consequences! There are hundreds of documented cases of naturally regrown fingertips in children under age 11 with a 100% success rate. “Young children’s fingers cleanly sheared off beyond the outermost crease of the outermost joint will invariably regrow perfectly in about 3 months.” Robert O. Becker, M.D., THE BODY ELECTRIC, p. 156. Becker cites the surgeon, Cynthia Illingworth (from England) who in the 1970’s inadvertently discovered this regrowth phenomena in children. This spontaneous regrowth in humans was in perfect harmony with Becker’s medical research in regeneration that he had published concerning laboratory animals such as hydras, frogs, newts, rats. He’d found that electrical currents are vital in the healing process and that limbs, bones, even hearts have potential to regenerate. Becker’s research gives hope to human bones that don’t heal and hope of healing to the Christopher Reeves-quadriplegics among us.

[Jarmo Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Body Electric is an interesting book about electricity in living organisms suchs as salamanders, frogs, rats, mice and human beings a.o., and what positive effects electricity can have on our bodies, and what minimal impulses through f.ex. electrodes can do with broken and amputated bodyparts. The book focuses mostly on regrowth in animals through electric impulses, but it also mentions humans. The book continues giving us detailed informasion on the dangers of radiation. Much research was done already before 1985, when this book was written, but much was hidden from the public. The book ends with a political insight into science and many of the hindrances for good research and some of the biases behind peer reviews and scientific research.

All in all an interesting book, though pretty technincal, especially for a simple norwegian layman. But I got pretty much out of it through the context and sometimes using a dictionary. Some areas was more diffuse and hard to understand, but in overal this one is a good one.

[Craig Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkable in that this was published 35+ years ago based on research done in the 60’s, 70’s and some early 80’s. It’s more poignant now considering the constant bombardment we get with electrons, magnetism, soon-to-be 5G coverage and a myriad of other invisible currents running through our bodies.

The first half of the book is quite dry and methodical with research primarily done on regeneration of tissue with frogs and salamanders. The second half of the book is much better and shows the progression to how electromagnetic currents can actually heal the body. Worth the read for anyone who considers healing and recovery aside from western diagnostic approaches.

On a separate note, after a few years of going back and forth, I finally bought a grounding mat for my bed at home. One of the best decisions I have ever made as I feel amazing every morning I wake up.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great science book. It's loaded with information and conveyed in a conversational manner that's easy to follow. This book mentions many things I'd never heard before about the effect of electromagnetism on animal organisms (some mention of plants too). The author is a PhD MD expert in bioelectric effects and treatments on lab animals and leading to human treatments that were done as hail Mary life saving attempts Which worked. Many will not be aware that because of Robert Becker we know much about how electricity affects the cell and cellular organization signaling. And especially how electric signal can control the actions (esp. healing and regeneration) of tissues (esp. bone). There are many chapters towards the books finishing chapters which go into more speculative aspects of how RF is impacting humans unintentionally and intentionally.

[Chandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This paperback and its rather un-sexy 1980s cover sat on my dad's bookshelf for years. I was surprised to discover that it is primarily a medical researcher's chronicle of his career-long quest to prove that bioelectric currents govern earth's species. The narrative is rather exhaustive, but it is fascinating to read about his experiments with limb regeneration, and the implications for life overall. Could biological organisms have originated from rock, rather than primordial ooze? Throughout, opposition to Becker's work is a recurring theme, in the manner of a chip on his shoulder. The last few chapters turn dark and focus on the danger of electricity. It's somewhat unsettling no matter how little or much you truly understand about electric wavelengths. The point is that it makes you think.

[McMenemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I might like the book more than most because I also found myself studying flatworms out of the blue while trying to understand biomedicine, much like the author. Great book that inspires one to ask questions about the world with some mind bending experiment examples. Sometimes I found the nuanced experimental details interesting, other chapters I found myself skimming. The author's story also exemplifies how even science does not escape politics. End of the book becomes speculative with a tad bit of bitterness, hard to know exactly what happened to the author's career. Last note is that I feel like some of the experiments could have been done with less animal harm.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives valuable information about study findings in respect to regrowing limbs, possible cause of cancer in humans and the negative effects of electromagnetic fields on the human body as well as how this information was and is actively suppressed by vested interests. However the beginning of the book lists and describes all the studies in major details which is tedious and tiresome. A shorter description with emphasis on the outcome and the meaning of the results would have sufficed.