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How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made
A cutting-edge examination of what it means to be human and to have a 'self' in the face of new scientific developments in genetic editing, cloning and neural downloading. After seeing his own cells used to grow clumps of new neurons – essentially mini-brains – Philip Ball begins to examine the concepts of identity and consciousness. Delving into humanity's deep evolutionary past to look at how complex creatures like us emerged from single-celled life, he offers a new perspective on how humans think about ourselves. In an age when we are increasingly encouraged to regard the 'self' as an abstract sequence of genetic information, or as a pattern of neural activity that might be 'downloaded' to a computer, he return us to the body – to flesh and blood – and anchors a conception of personhood in this unique and ephemeral mortal coil. How to Build a Human brings us back to ourselves – but in doing so, it challenges old preconceptions and values. It asks us to rethink how we exist in the world.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2019
82 people are currently reading
800 people want to read
About the author
Philip Ball
66 books498 followersPhilip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 3, 2020
There’s something eerie about the scientific achievements of the last few decades; these phenomenal advancements in medical science and research can put one in mind of horror tales of yore such as Frankenstein, or more recent fantasies such as The Matrix. Yeah – scary stuff. But it doesn’t have to be. Philip Ball takes us behind the sensationalist headlines of popular media – test tube babies, artificial humans, synthetic organs, and genetic modification and experimentation – and presents the facts behind the hype. Ball takes us on a journey of scientific revolution, from our humble beginnings dabbling with genes and proteins, to attempts at cloning, growing organs and babies in vitro (outside of the body), IVF, and the modification of genetic information to prevent disease. Science has come a long way, but there is still so much to explore.
Full review here: https://girlreviewsbook.blogspot.com/...
Full review here: https://girlreviewsbook.blogspot.com/...
March 23, 2021
This book begins with Philip Ball, assisted by researchers, growing a mini brain-in-a-dish using his own skin cells. But he uses this experiment as an opportunity to understand the metaphors that we used to communicate science. The central thesis of this book is that the metaphors and analogies used to communicate science dictates how we think about their societal impact.
This book is mainly divided into three sections: an overview of the science and history of embryology; a detailed account of Ball's own project to grow his own mini human brain; and an excellent summary of the enduring puzzle of where we came from.
I was struck by the book's readability. Philip Ball is an excellent communicator of science, and the book is full of great analogies and clear explanations of scientific concepts. The level of scientific detail is just right for a general audience. At the same time, Ball is not afraid to consider the philosophical implications of his experiments, or in fact of science itself. "Scientists deal with mysteries – and they get all kinds of messy".
However, this book isn't just about growing a human brain. The account of how to grow a human brain is fun and fascinating in its own right; it's also an excellent introduction to the science of developmental biology. The book provides an excellent overview of the latest discoveries in this field, and highlights some of the major issues in the field. The book also offers an excellent insight into the history of science. The history of embryology is full of amazing stories of scientists striving to understand how the first living thing came to be, from Aristotle's ideas about 'built-in' movement and spontaneous generation, through to the present day when scientists are still struggling (with varying degrees of success) to make sense of how early-developing human embryos are similar to adult humans, and why they can develop into two sexes.
In fact, the central organising idea of this book is the continuity of life and all living things. Ball repeatedly draws attention to the similarities and differences between early human embryos and adult humans. And he is not afraid to confront the 'yuck' factor that many people have about some aspects of embryology. Ball reminds us that 'we are not born so much as hatched'. His account of his own project to grow a human brain in a dish provides a great introduction to the many scientific issues related to early human development.
Philip Ball's book is an enjoyable read, and a great overview of the science of embryology. It would also make an excellent gift for someone interested in the history of science, or fascinated by 'how we came to be'. This book demonstrates that it is possible to write about complicated scientific ideas for non-scientists.
This book is mainly divided into three sections: an overview of the science and history of embryology; a detailed account of Ball's own project to grow his own mini human brain; and an excellent summary of the enduring puzzle of where we came from.
I was struck by the book's readability. Philip Ball is an excellent communicator of science, and the book is full of great analogies and clear explanations of scientific concepts. The level of scientific detail is just right for a general audience. At the same time, Ball is not afraid to consider the philosophical implications of his experiments, or in fact of science itself. "Scientists deal with mysteries – and they get all kinds of messy".
However, this book isn't just about growing a human brain. The account of how to grow a human brain is fun and fascinating in its own right; it's also an excellent introduction to the science of developmental biology. The book provides an excellent overview of the latest discoveries in this field, and highlights some of the major issues in the field. The book also offers an excellent insight into the history of science. The history of embryology is full of amazing stories of scientists striving to understand how the first living thing came to be, from Aristotle's ideas about 'built-in' movement and spontaneous generation, through to the present day when scientists are still struggling (with varying degrees of success) to make sense of how early-developing human embryos are similar to adult humans, and why they can develop into two sexes.
In fact, the central organising idea of this book is the continuity of life and all living things. Ball repeatedly draws attention to the similarities and differences between early human embryos and adult humans. And he is not afraid to confront the 'yuck' factor that many people have about some aspects of embryology. Ball reminds us that 'we are not born so much as hatched'. His account of his own project to grow a human brain in a dish provides a great introduction to the many scientific issues related to early human development.
Philip Ball's book is an enjoyable read, and a great overview of the science of embryology. It would also make an excellent gift for someone interested in the history of science, or fascinated by 'how we came to be'. This book demonstrates that it is possible to write about complicated scientific ideas for non-scientists.
July 22, 2021
Fascinating!
December 29, 2020
In the early 17th century, Galileo studiously peered through his telescope and noted the shadows that would cross Jupiter, only to reappear on its opposite end days later. He had discovered Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Calisto – the largest moons of Jupiter - but, more importantly, he extended our concept of “moon”, thereby inalterably changing how we understand the cosmos. Conceptual shifts, the framework through which we see the natural world and the narratives that we use to make this all comprehensible are necessary elements to science. If any field rivals astronomy in the ire and contention its narratives have spawned, and continue to spawn, then it is sure biology. In Growing A Human Philip Ball begins by himself peering through a microscope, examining neurons beginning to form a network: a proto-brain. The question of what conceptual shift could such an entity lead to – a brain-like organism organizing itself?, living?, growing? - becomes stranger when we consider that the neurons Ball is looking at were, just a few days prior, cells taken from his arm.
How to Grow a Human goes through a mostly modern history of how we understand ourselves as biological entities – as humans. Centuries ago, the common conception of, well, conception was that hummunculi – little tiny humans – resided in sperm and were grown in the fertile fields of a womb. The framework within which we saw ourselves influenced, among other things, our views of gender, society and even proscriptions against non-procreative sex; surely you wouldn’t want a succibi – dastardly demon roaming the Earth – to come upon stray seed, and nurse it into demon spawn? Ball shows that our modern day biological conceptions are not free of ideological influence. Go back a few decades, to the advent of IVF (“test tube babies” – in common, if not pejorative, parlance) and the majority view was that a child born in such a manner was unlovable. What are our views today, now that growing organs, modifying DNA, mixing genetic material from various species, cloning, inducing stem-cell-like states in mature cells and so on are possible?
The book succeeds in outlining the exciting advances in biological science that complicate our understanding of humans and life in general while giving providing a thorough account of how life develops, from conception to death. An important theme would be the role of DNA, which in a short span of time went from being discovered, to being understood as the blueprint of life itself, an essential part of what separates species, to now more aptly being understood as an ‘instantiation of a set of instructions for ‘becoming’’.
Our reverence for DNA as being the essential ingredient for life is dispelled when we learn that, on it’s own, DNA doesn’t do too much. Life may be reproduction but DNA on its own doesn’t contain sufficient information towards that end. As Ball states, “… there is also no direct link between informational content of genes and a trait or structure in an organism”. The common idea of DNA as being a self-contained manual for a “life” neglects the essential role environment, and other species even, play in “becoming” and even that organisms can contain more than one genetic code within their own cells. Dreams of growing idealized humans in sterile labs are shattered when we understand that many signals our early cells require come from the uterine lining, that over 50% of our microbiome is not made up of our human cells but a collection of bacteria. Some species – fruit flies, mice and zebra fish are mentioned – even require bacteria in order to activate certain genes in the development process.
Where the book falls flat is in its promise to dig into the philosophical questions that this science spawns. Ball mostly abdicates on this responsibility, at best giving a terse account of the stakes and at worst coming across as an annoying interlocutor that repeats, “I’m just asking questions” while going no further. Early in the book he states that “No one really knows how to think about what goes on inside a mini-brain, any more than they know what reinspires in the formative brain of a fetus when it is of comparable pea-size.” Yet clearly we do have some way of thinking about what goes on in this collection of cells, just as we have some ideas of what goes on in a fetus, baby and adult human. Fields are devoted to the study and, at minimum, it would be possible to offer some negatives, such as ‘this collection of cells is not composing the next Mozart symphony based on what we understand about mental process and their biological correlates.” In a book that spans over 500 pages, it is a shame that we do not get a clearer picture of how science and philosophy has illuminated our understanding of consciousness, for example, which seems to be the root of the initial question.
Other examples abound. We are treated to a description of various ways that human organs can be grown, including within other animals, which naturally brings up the ethics of proceeding along such course. Here, we arrive, finally at the meat of the matter! What are the risks of growing these chimerical animals? How do our intuitive modern views of animals, life, species, DNA, suffering etc.play a part in pushing us in one direction over another? Are these positions compatible with other principles we hold, or at least claim to hold? Instead of raising even the cursory positions debated on this topic, Ball laments, “I not believe that a ban on chimeras for regenerative medicine is the right decision, but I can’t adduce any philosophical calculus in support of that view”. This pattern continues when we reach questions raised by feminism, transhumanism and teleology.
How to Grow a Human, despite these faults, is a noble attempt to show that things are not as clear cut as we may intuitively feel, even if Ball isn’t willing to stake out a claim of how they are different in light of what we know. While I’ve enriched my understanding of the biological processes play out within my own body, and the science being done in order to patch up both nature’s shortcomings and the accidents of life, more is required in order to connect these facts to our understanding of life and what we should do in light of this knowledge. Research, funding, policies and ultimately the lives of humans living today and in the future, are effected, and scientists – Ball included – must do more to outline the stakes.
How to Grow a Human goes through a mostly modern history of how we understand ourselves as biological entities – as humans. Centuries ago, the common conception of, well, conception was that hummunculi – little tiny humans – resided in sperm and were grown in the fertile fields of a womb. The framework within which we saw ourselves influenced, among other things, our views of gender, society and even proscriptions against non-procreative sex; surely you wouldn’t want a succibi – dastardly demon roaming the Earth – to come upon stray seed, and nurse it into demon spawn? Ball shows that our modern day biological conceptions are not free of ideological influence. Go back a few decades, to the advent of IVF (“test tube babies” – in common, if not pejorative, parlance) and the majority view was that a child born in such a manner was unlovable. What are our views today, now that growing organs, modifying DNA, mixing genetic material from various species, cloning, inducing stem-cell-like states in mature cells and so on are possible?
The book succeeds in outlining the exciting advances in biological science that complicate our understanding of humans and life in general while giving providing a thorough account of how life develops, from conception to death. An important theme would be the role of DNA, which in a short span of time went from being discovered, to being understood as the blueprint of life itself, an essential part of what separates species, to now more aptly being understood as an ‘instantiation of a set of instructions for ‘becoming’’.
Our reverence for DNA as being the essential ingredient for life is dispelled when we learn that, on it’s own, DNA doesn’t do too much. Life may be reproduction but DNA on its own doesn’t contain sufficient information towards that end. As Ball states, “… there is also no direct link between informational content of genes and a trait or structure in an organism”. The common idea of DNA as being a self-contained manual for a “life” neglects the essential role environment, and other species even, play in “becoming” and even that organisms can contain more than one genetic code within their own cells. Dreams of growing idealized humans in sterile labs are shattered when we understand that many signals our early cells require come from the uterine lining, that over 50% of our microbiome is not made up of our human cells but a collection of bacteria. Some species – fruit flies, mice and zebra fish are mentioned – even require bacteria in order to activate certain genes in the development process.
Where the book falls flat is in its promise to dig into the philosophical questions that this science spawns. Ball mostly abdicates on this responsibility, at best giving a terse account of the stakes and at worst coming across as an annoying interlocutor that repeats, “I’m just asking questions” while going no further. Early in the book he states that “No one really knows how to think about what goes on inside a mini-brain, any more than they know what reinspires in the formative brain of a fetus when it is of comparable pea-size.” Yet clearly we do have some way of thinking about what goes on in this collection of cells, just as we have some ideas of what goes on in a fetus, baby and adult human. Fields are devoted to the study and, at minimum, it would be possible to offer some negatives, such as ‘this collection of cells is not composing the next Mozart symphony based on what we understand about mental process and their biological correlates.” In a book that spans over 500 pages, it is a shame that we do not get a clearer picture of how science and philosophy has illuminated our understanding of consciousness, for example, which seems to be the root of the initial question.
Other examples abound. We are treated to a description of various ways that human organs can be grown, including within other animals, which naturally brings up the ethics of proceeding along such course. Here, we arrive, finally at the meat of the matter! What are the risks of growing these chimerical animals? How do our intuitive modern views of animals, life, species, DNA, suffering etc.play a part in pushing us in one direction over another? Are these positions compatible with other principles we hold, or at least claim to hold? Instead of raising even the cursory positions debated on this topic, Ball laments, “I not believe that a ban on chimeras for regenerative medicine is the right decision, but I can’t adduce any philosophical calculus in support of that view”. This pattern continues when we reach questions raised by feminism, transhumanism and teleology.
How to Grow a Human, despite these faults, is a noble attempt to show that things are not as clear cut as we may intuitively feel, even if Ball isn’t willing to stake out a claim of how they are different in light of what we know. While I’ve enriched my understanding of the biological processes play out within my own body, and the science being done in order to patch up both nature’s shortcomings and the accidents of life, more is required in order to connect these facts to our understanding of life and what we should do in light of this knowledge. Research, funding, policies and ultimately the lives of humans living today and in the future, are effected, and scientists – Ball included – must do more to outline the stakes.
December 30, 2025
I bought this book when I was 17/18y old and back then I started but soon realised it was a bit too difficult for me still at that time. I picked it up again this year and now it didn’t feel that difficult anymore. I would say about half maybe 2/3 of the book are actually about the science and the history of all the developments from culturing cells/discovering and growing stem cells to IVF and making iPSCs. This was quite fun and interesting to read, especially now that I actually already know quite a bit about the field at this point in time, being a bioengineer myself. But then the rest of the book 1/3 - 1/2 was very ethical and even philosophical from designer babies to transhumanism and brain in a vat and although I do find this important to talk about with this subject I just thought for me that it was a bit too much, too detailed for what I wanted and got a bit bored after a while.
June 15, 2019
More interesting than I expected, I like the way Ball writes.
The book itself is a meander about
a) defining boundaries of an individual
b) a vague history of cellular biology and the scientific problems of describing a cell (see a)
c) expanding this fuzziness out to the whole self
d) a run-thru of each artificial means of 'growing a human', and to a lesser extent the natural means as well
e) various "life is marvelous" side-notes and digressions and things.
I liked it, only the basic "This is what you were taught a cell is in school" section bored me.
The book itself is a meander about
a) defining boundaries of an individual
b) a vague history of cellular biology and the scientific problems of describing a cell (see a)
c) expanding this fuzziness out to the whole self
d) a run-thru of each artificial means of 'growing a human', and to a lesser extent the natural means as well
e) various "life is marvelous" side-notes and digressions and things.
I liked it, only the basic "This is what you were taught a cell is in school" section bored me.
December 30, 2023
What I love most about this book is what it has to say about science and culture. Science does not exist in a vacuum unbothered by the beliefs and attitudes of public, in fact it those beliefs that govern what research is undertaken and why. It is with this fact that Philip Ball asks us to reconsider the metaphors and stories we use to talk about science. Especially, the stories we tell about human reproduction. However, to use evolutionary biology alone to explain our attitudes towards sex would be incredibly reductive. The point of this book is to encourage discussion about what it means to be human or create humans, drawing both from culture and science. Ball does this by referencing both scientific research and the sci-fi stories that are based on our fears. He entreats us to discuss this because the fields of synthetic biology, embryology and genetic engineering are all developing at a rapid pace.
The science discussed in the book is fascinating. The start can be a little slow if your already familiar with organisation of our DNA, and protein synthesis and phenotypes. But then the book discusses IVF, IPSCs, organoids, cloning, tissue culture – all fascinating subjects. What was new to me/ what interested me the most what the possibility of developing human organs within other animals for potential transplants. It’s also interesting exploring the inherent disgust around that idea. Ball suggests that it isn’t any more morally incomprehensible than eating meat but because humans are so focused on species identity it feels wrong to mix and match species. Yet, a lot of the cells in our bodies aren’t even human, they’re symbiotic bacteria. And hybrid animals exist (although their genomes are hybrids it’s not like one cell is has a genome from the mother species and another cell for the father species*). What was also interesting in terms of transplants was the idea of developing organoid/ tissue cultures from IPSCs for temporary patient use until they can get a transplant.
The book also goes into the regulations around research on embryos. How internationally most research is limited to embryos under 14 days old. This is because the primitive streak is formed at 14 days, the first sign of a spinal cord, after this point an embryo is no longer able to split into identical twins. Ball is sceptical about having a discrete start of personhood because advancements in IPSC technology might make it that later stages in embryogenesis can be studied without the synthetic human with embryo-like features (STEEF) ever developing a primitive streak. If a STEEF only has the features needed to study the later stages of embryogenesis, should it still be treated like a human embryo?
I also enjoyed learning about how human somatic cells could potentially be reprogrammed into gametes, making processes like egg-harvesting redundant.
The end of the book got quite philosophical with many arguments, which I didn’t understand, against us being brains in jars which I’ll just take on good authority because I don’t want to believe I’m a brain in a jar. All I understand is Descartes’s (or was it Billie Eilish’s) “I think therefore I am”, that’s about as deep as I want to get into it. However what I understood (only a tiny bit) is the idea of the body being the basic solipsistic unit and not the brain even though it really does really feel like your mind is inside your head!**. The idea that the brain creates the world only so that the whole body can best interact with it for our survival. Otherwise, how do we know a tree in the distance is there if it’s not for our eyes detecting light and the brain processing it into an image of a tree. We make it a part of the world by saying to ourselves that our bodies can walk around it. And that is why we think of our whole bodies as one as those the biology makes the case that we are still and have always been a community of cells. It remains unclear where that consciousness - where life starts but there are new ways to grow human. Very cool.
*However, chimaeras do happen within species. Like a somebody both having the blood cells of themselves and their twin distinguishable through having 2 different blood types.
** A quote from Zadie Smith’s short story Words and Music because I’m also reading Grand Union at the time of writing this review.
The science discussed in the book is fascinating. The start can be a little slow if your already familiar with organisation of our DNA, and protein synthesis and phenotypes. But then the book discusses IVF, IPSCs, organoids, cloning, tissue culture – all fascinating subjects. What was new to me/ what interested me the most what the possibility of developing human organs within other animals for potential transplants. It’s also interesting exploring the inherent disgust around that idea. Ball suggests that it isn’t any more morally incomprehensible than eating meat but because humans are so focused on species identity it feels wrong to mix and match species. Yet, a lot of the cells in our bodies aren’t even human, they’re symbiotic bacteria. And hybrid animals exist (although their genomes are hybrids it’s not like one cell is has a genome from the mother species and another cell for the father species*). What was also interesting in terms of transplants was the idea of developing organoid/ tissue cultures from IPSCs for temporary patient use until they can get a transplant.
The book also goes into the regulations around research on embryos. How internationally most research is limited to embryos under 14 days old. This is because the primitive streak is formed at 14 days, the first sign of a spinal cord, after this point an embryo is no longer able to split into identical twins. Ball is sceptical about having a discrete start of personhood because advancements in IPSC technology might make it that later stages in embryogenesis can be studied without the synthetic human with embryo-like features (STEEF) ever developing a primitive streak. If a STEEF only has the features needed to study the later stages of embryogenesis, should it still be treated like a human embryo?
I also enjoyed learning about how human somatic cells could potentially be reprogrammed into gametes, making processes like egg-harvesting redundant.
The end of the book got quite philosophical with many arguments, which I didn’t understand, against us being brains in jars which I’ll just take on good authority because I don’t want to believe I’m a brain in a jar. All I understand is Descartes’s (or was it Billie Eilish’s) “I think therefore I am”, that’s about as deep as I want to get into it. However what I understood (only a tiny bit) is the idea of the body being the basic solipsistic unit and not the brain even though it really does really feel like your mind is inside your head!**. The idea that the brain creates the world only so that the whole body can best interact with it for our survival. Otherwise, how do we know a tree in the distance is there if it’s not for our eyes detecting light and the brain processing it into an image of a tree. We make it a part of the world by saying to ourselves that our bodies can walk around it. And that is why we think of our whole bodies as one as those the biology makes the case that we are still and have always been a community of cells. It remains unclear where that consciousness - where life starts but there are new ways to grow human. Very cool.
*However, chimaeras do happen within species. Like a somebody both having the blood cells of themselves and their twin distinguishable through having 2 different blood types.
** A quote from Zadie Smith’s short story Words and Music because I’m also reading Grand Union at the time of writing this review.
April 14, 2024
I have taken note of many books by this author for a long time but never had a chance to read any yet. Until recently when I picked this book up from a cut out bin at local book fair at about 3 USD equivalent price. Boy! Philip Ball is one of those gifted authors who can effortlessly narrate complex esoteric science subjects in a very pleasantly digestible way for the reading public - his writing style reminds me of such luminary of mine as Carl Zimmer, Matt Ridley, Rob Dunn, Jonathan Silvertown etc. I will surely reach for another book or two of this author soon.
This is a popular life science book that is up-to-date, mind blowing, revealing, enriching and sometimes provocative. The author's writing style is quite conversational like a knowledgeable friend sharing esoteric knowledge in as plain but intriguing a way as he can- he even provides a few jokes as footnotes.
One good point is when he warns readers, early in the book, that many explanations in life science come in anthropomorphic style as if each entity being discussed is a human being who has intention and desire and readers should be aware that this is just a metaphor as a result of our limitation in using descriptive language to explain very technically scientific notions. The author's accounts on chimera gene and history on the discovery of cell reprogramming are in spellbinding as well as interesting details. etc.
The fist few chapters describe all relevant basics in molecular biology focusing on reproductive and developmental process of cells - with relating matters of genetics, behavioral genetics, and a history of mesmerizing life science experiments that informed us in this branch of knowledge. Then comes the stories on recent exciting sci-fi-like biotech of induced pluripotent stem cell, cell reprogramming, gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 which inform us how very advanced this science has come so far. Then he gets a bit more philosophical on the notion of self an consciousness. This last part is a bit of a tough nut for me to crack but I think I get some foggy notions, at least.
All in all, a good book for those who are eager to understand the wonder of what is called LIFE! The knowledge gained helps us have proper view and expectation on current state of cutting edge healthcare as well.
One ramification from this book for me is that it gets me to ponder that most of these biotech wonders have been enjoyed and appreciated more by well-t0-do group of world population - juts like in a saying "The Future Has Arrived — It's Just Not Evenly Distributed Yet." But seriously. this matter mainly belongs to politicians more than anyone and politics have been a love-hate thing for too many of us for too long and it does not improve much in most countries of the world. On this, perhaps, we need a different kind of book to cast some light on how to handle inequality. I hope I may find one to read soon.
This is a popular life science book that is up-to-date, mind blowing, revealing, enriching and sometimes provocative. The author's writing style is quite conversational like a knowledgeable friend sharing esoteric knowledge in as plain but intriguing a way as he can- he even provides a few jokes as footnotes.
One good point is when he warns readers, early in the book, that many explanations in life science come in anthropomorphic style as if each entity being discussed is a human being who has intention and desire and readers should be aware that this is just a metaphor as a result of our limitation in using descriptive language to explain very technically scientific notions. The author's accounts on chimera gene and history on the discovery of cell reprogramming are in spellbinding as well as interesting details. etc.
The fist few chapters describe all relevant basics in molecular biology focusing on reproductive and developmental process of cells - with relating matters of genetics, behavioral genetics, and a history of mesmerizing life science experiments that informed us in this branch of knowledge. Then comes the stories on recent exciting sci-fi-like biotech of induced pluripotent stem cell, cell reprogramming, gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 which inform us how very advanced this science has come so far. Then he gets a bit more philosophical on the notion of self an consciousness. This last part is a bit of a tough nut for me to crack but I think I get some foggy notions, at least.
All in all, a good book for those who are eager to understand the wonder of what is called LIFE! The knowledge gained helps us have proper view and expectation on current state of cutting edge healthcare as well.
One ramification from this book for me is that it gets me to ponder that most of these biotech wonders have been enjoyed and appreciated more by well-t0-do group of world population - juts like in a saying "The Future Has Arrived — It's Just Not Evenly Distributed Yet." But seriously. this matter mainly belongs to politicians more than anyone and politics have been a love-hate thing for too many of us for too long and it does not improve much in most countries of the world. On this, perhaps, we need a different kind of book to cast some light on how to handle inequality. I hope I may find one to read soon.
July 25, 2025
I was intrigued by the title and blurb as I enjoy reading about science and ethics, and this was certainly a thought provoking journey from cell to what it means to be human. Ball covers a fair amount of scientific concepts and terms (of which some acronyms and enzyme names went into my eyes and out my brain) as he starts with embryological processes, what conception looks like, chimeric animals, and proceeds towards the implications of designer babies. He mentions various scientists and their achievements and contributions in this space whilst considering how it relates to societal norms and values. The concept of a designer baby was intriguing as he provides more nuance to this concept (which may or may not become more normalised as IVF and genome technology improves). Definitely not a 'light' and easy read as it requires some knowledge of (human) biology but I would be open to re-reading this book in the future as I'm sure many advances may occur as Ball predicted.
March 4, 2020
This is an OK book, nice. It discusses discoveries and development in artificial tampering with cells and life. Much of it was new to me, although not perhaps unexpected, such as how much the development of cells and organisms depend on external structures and environment rather than just DNA.
The latter parts discuss how we are more and more going to what could be a future where technology and scientific tools might become inseparable from how we live and reproduce.
A recurring theme is also how an organism, such as a human, really is an organization of smaller entities, and it is hard to make clear distinctions about what is human and what is not. (i.e. in vitro embryology, but also how about just cells removed from the body).
The latter parts discuss how we are more and more going to what could be a future where technology and scientific tools might become inseparable from how we live and reproduce.
A recurring theme is also how an organism, such as a human, really is an organization of smaller entities, and it is hard to make clear distinctions about what is human and what is not. (i.e. in vitro embryology, but also how about just cells removed from the body).
July 7, 2025
As much as I love science, biology is not my favorite but I really enjoyed this book.
This book is about cell biology, the history of cell biology, and the advancements of cell biology while also looking at the morality and practicality of these advancements.
There were a few parts that I did not fully grasp, since my knowledge of cell biology is limited, but I appreciate what I learned. The advancements of cell biology seem to be on the verge of some phenomenal discoveries but they come at potential moral dilemmas, such as using stem cells to grow human organs inside other animals.
A good read. I would like this more if I had a better foundation for cell biology but he passed my knowledge after the chapter about what we learn about cells in school.
This book is about cell biology, the history of cell biology, and the advancements of cell biology while also looking at the morality and practicality of these advancements.
There were a few parts that I did not fully grasp, since my knowledge of cell biology is limited, but I appreciate what I learned. The advancements of cell biology seem to be on the verge of some phenomenal discoveries but they come at potential moral dilemmas, such as using stem cells to grow human organs inside other animals.
A good read. I would like this more if I had a better foundation for cell biology but he passed my knowledge after the chapter about what we learn about cells in school.
March 23, 2021
Magnificent, and thought provoking. The author addresses an entire gamut of topics covering biology, genetics, and even transhumanism, exposing the inability of science in explaining concepts like individuality and what it means to be human. Engrossing and fascinating!
March 17, 2022
Extraordinary book, extraordinary writing. Introduces an area of biology that all 21st century people should know and understand but don't. Provides a 360 degree view of what this field will mean in terms of opportunities, issues and risks as it develops. Highly recommended... your mileage may vary if you're already an expert in the field.
October 26, 2023
This took me two years to finish. Whatever you do, don’t read it. I will never get those hours back, but you still have a choice.
January 28, 2025
very accessible entry level physiology, read it before starting uni and it gave me a good baseline for what i've learned since, really enjoyed it x
March 24, 2021
Hella good for a dumb fuck like me to learn some biotech without all the lab work and verbose terminology.
November 20, 2019
I wish I had regurgitated my thoughts on this book as soon as I read it.
I do remember that the book was a little slow in parts.
What I found most interesting about this book was as it progressed in its attempt to define what it means to have a self (a blurry topic in itself)and the changes to this concept, it chronologically mapped out large advances in science and cellular biology to corroborate it.
As he weaves this story, the most interesting part was how he ties in popular culture (science fiction and fantasy story lines) with changes happening in biology at the time.
The book starts with the author being invited to take part in a multidisciplinary experiment in collaboration with artists, where these scientists took some cells from him (and other volunteers) and differentiated them into neuronal cells. The volunteers observed all stages of this experiment and were asked to express their thoughts on it and Philip Ball's expression was in the form of this book.
I do remember that the book was a little slow in parts.
What I found most interesting about this book was as it progressed in its attempt to define what it means to have a self (a blurry topic in itself)and the changes to this concept, it chronologically mapped out large advances in science and cellular biology to corroborate it.
As he weaves this story, the most interesting part was how he ties in popular culture (science fiction and fantasy story lines) with changes happening in biology at the time.
The book starts with the author being invited to take part in a multidisciplinary experiment in collaboration with artists, where these scientists took some cells from him (and other volunteers) and differentiated them into neuronal cells. The volunteers observed all stages of this experiment and were asked to express their thoughts on it and Philip Ball's expression was in the form of this book.
January 9, 2024
this book is fascinating. while it can be a bit dense at times (i can't believe there was a time in my life i didn't know what 'pluripotent' means! i am certainly well-versed now), every part is written with grace and humour. it has similarities, i think, to 'entangled life'so by merlin sheldrake, so if you like one, i encourage you to read the other. at times it felt like ball might have lost his point a bit, whole chapters built on tangents with little to do with his initial question; i don't really have a problem with that, though, because those tangents were equally interesting to me. the tone of writing and wit got quite a few chuckles from me, and even one or two full on laughs. i also think the chapter on transhumanism intersects nicely with 'to be a machine' by mark o'connell, especially since ball spends so much time on the philosophical implications, rather than o'connell, who focused a lot on the transhumanists themselves.
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