Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul

by Brandy Schillace

The “delightfully macabre” ( The New York Times ) true tale of a brilliant and eccentric surgeon… and his quest to transplant the human soul.

In the early days of the Cold War, a spirit of desperate scientific rivalry birthed a different kind of space not the race to outer space that we all know, but a race to master the inner space of the human body. While surgeons on either side of the Iron Curtain competed to become the first to transplant organs like the kidney and heart, a young American neurosurgeon had an even more ambitious Why not transplant the brain?

Dr. Robert White was a friend to two popes and a founder of the Vatican’s Commission on Bioethics. He developed lifesaving neurosurgical techniques still used in hospitals today and was nominated for the Nobel Prize. But like Dr. Jekyll before him, Dr. White had another identity. In his lab, he was waging a battle against the limits of science and against mortality itself—working to perfect a surgery that would allow the soul to live on after the human body had died.

This “fascinating” ( The Wall Street Journal ), “provocative” ( The Washington Post ) tale follows his decades-long quest into tangled matters of science, Cold War politics, and faith, revealing the complex (and often murky) ethics of experimentation and remarkable innovations that today save patients from certain death. It’s a “masterful” ( Science ) look at our greatest fears and our greatest hopes—and the long, strange journey from science fiction to science fact.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Medicine, Medical, Biography, Biology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2021

About the author

Dr. BRANDY SCHILLACE (skil-AH-chay) is an autistic, nonbinary author, historian, mystery writer and Editor (who grew up in an underground house next to a cemetery with a pet raccoon). Her mystery novel, THE FRAMED WOMEN OF ARDEMORE HOUSE, features an autistic protagonist: Jo Jones. Plus: An abandoned English manor, a peculiar missing portrait, and one dead gardener. “A must read for any mystery lover.” – says DEANNA RAYBOURN, New York Times bestselling author of KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE. (This will be book one in the NETHERLEIGH mystery series.)

***QUICK NOTE! I love talking with readers - for Book Clubs and 1:1s, find me now on Skolay: skolay.com/writers/brandy-schillace***

Brandy’s recent nonfiction, MR. HUMBLE AND DR. BUTCHER–described by the New York Times as a “macabre delight”–explores Cold War medicine, bioethics, and transplant science. Brandy’s next nonfiction book, THE INTERMEDIARIES, will tell the forgotten, daring history of the interwar Institute of Sexology in Berlin: trans activists, the first gender affirming surgeries, and the fight for LGBTQ rights in the shadow of the Nazi Third Reich. Rebels against empires, it’s a heart-stopping story of courage in the face of long odds.

And because she writes in two worlds, both of them weird, Brandy hosts a regular YouTube show called Peculiar Book Club. It features livestream chats with bestselling authors of unusual nonfiction, from Lindsey Fitzharris and Mary Roach to Carl Zimmer and Deborah Blum. She has appeared on Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum, NPR’s Here and Now, and with Dan Aykroyd on THE UNBELIEVABLE (History Channel). Bylines at WIRED, Scientific American, Globe and Mail, WSJ Books, and Medium. She works as Editor in Chief for BMJ’s Medical Humanities, a journal for social justice and health equity.

Dr. Schillace is represented by Jessica Papin at Dystel and Goderich Literary Management.

http://brandyschillace.com/
@bschillace

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an extremely difficult book to get through. A number of times I just had to put it down. And the only reason I was reading it was because it was for a book discussion. I could not get over the cruelty of Dr. White, who, although seemingly a decent person, tortured animals-- in the name of science. Sorry to say, as I think the author is trying to make the case that the torture helped make advances in medicine. But I can't get over the horror created by a real-life Dr. Frankenstein. He was so concerned about the soul but with his inhumane and soulless behavior did not care about the cost to his own soul.

[Scott Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The surgery of organ transplantation has taken off in the past fifty years. However, the ability to apply these gains to the nervous system has lagged behind due to the limitations of nerve regeneration. As told in this book, during this time, Robert White, MD/PhD, sought to pioneer head transplantation onto a new body. He was successful in transplanting a monkey’s head onto another’s body. However, he retired and died before his dream could come true.

Schillance’s work seeks to tell his story and the story of this field. The tale is gripping, the character personalities are strong, and the stakes are high. This story is not well-known to the public as journalistically, it has mostly been covered in sensationalist news sources. Therefore, Schillance’s informative tale should reach interested ears.

Is White a humble genius or merely a new Dr. Butcher and Dr. Frankenstein? That gripping question lies behind the historical unfolding of this work’s plot. The reader is left to make up her/his own mind. After finishing this work, I find elements of both stereotypes are true. Animals are harmed to make science advance, but noble scientific aims could save human lives. As White asks, would society rather a surgeon practice on monkeys or a human child?

These relevant and pertinent questions bring us to today as the field has continued in White’s absence. Head transplantation is variously proposed still. A central limitation to White’s work was the inability to bring a paralyzed spinal cord to life. (Thus, the patient would always remain a paralytic.) However, in recent years, nerve regeneration technology has shown promise; additionally, some have developed technology that bypasses the spinal cord by sending signals directly from the brain to local nerve endings. Schillance accurately and excitedly exposits these developments.

As part of the history of medicine, this work is especially relevant to historians and healthcare professionals, but it also has the chance to reach a wider general audience. Again, this story is not well-known but should be. It may enter more into society’s conversations about bioethics in coming years. Schillance casts the facts and situation well, without bias or agenda. Are we ready for the reality of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Ready or not, it may come.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, Schillace writes a fascinating profile of Dr. Robert White's pursuit of cephalic transplant.

I had heard passing mention of this creepy, Frankenstein-esque pursuit, I believe through Sam Kean's books or Nerd Nite talks. But I have never read the story of the man behind the idea.

White is an interesting pioneer in brain science and brain surgery. He's dogged in his search for the truth at the expense of reason and willingly mutilated many animals, but had a soft side of humanity and humanity alone. He genuinely felt that his work was for the greater good, but had he been successful in carrying out his dream, it probably wouldn't have been the triumph he hoped for.

I did feel that the author was perhaps more doting and admiring of White's work than it perhaps she should be. While she does delve into the animal ethics and the anti-vivisectionist movement of the 80s, she seemed to largely dismiss the valid ethical concerns of the movement. There's absolutely no getting around the fact that the monkey head transplant is beyond grisly. And White's adherence to religion and unrealistic view of the 'soul' as being uniquely human allowed him to coldly inflict quite a brutal experiment on the monkeys, who undoubtedly did suffer in his hands.

I found the end of the book on current research to help the paralyzed and quadriplegics fascinating. It does seem that White was on the cusp of successful cephalic transplant, but never got to see his work through. Should it be done? My thought is no. The men who volunteered for the transplants both had fulfilling lives, albeit shorter than they wanted. But this is my opinion, your take on the bioethics of this experiment is yours to make.

Although Robert's quest was most likely done for genuinely good reasons, I found the descriptions of the head transplants on dogs and monkeys rather horrific and gruesome. So I cannot muster the admiration of the man despite his contributions to science. Still, it is an interesting read for fans of neuroscience and who can stomach the explanations of the surgeries.

[Literature With A Latte · Rating 5 out of 5]

@literaturewithalatte

A biography of Dr.Robert White, the medical mind behind several lifesaving neurosurgical procedures. In his lab, he was pushing the limits of science to find a surgical technique that allows for the transplantation of the human soul, the quest for immortality.

Anything related to the brain is interesting to me. I’m fascinated by it. As soon as I read the description of the book, I figured this is a topic I would love to read more about. This book not only talked about the medical knowledge and procedures related to organ transplantation, but it also delved into the moral and ethical repercussions. It poses the question: if we CAN do something, SHOULD we do it? This book addresses several ethical dilemmas: beating-heart donors, systemic racism in the medical world, predatory organ harvesting and animal experimentation. I’d recommend to those of you interested in learning more about Dr.White’s work and ethical implications.

[Olya · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing recollection of one scientist's pursuit to find the locus of human soul - and all the useful incidental findings that underlie neurosurgery till this day on. Full of bioethical dilemmas, political undertone and the persistent spirit of human mind. One change I'd wish to see is for the modern day author such as Schillace is to properly name Ukraine, without the definitie article "the" - surely the amount of research done for this book could've suggested that, especially since the country is referred to more than several times throughout the book. Overall, highly recommend!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The high points of the book were the look at that era’s science in the Soviet Union, and the look at the history of transplantation, from a sociological and ethical viewpoint, not a medical one. Author Brandy Schillace also writes with a sense of humor and the book was difficult to put down. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of medicine.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this book via Edelweiss for review purposes.

[Emma Wall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting but definitely slow moving and required some intense external knowledge to really understand what Dr. White was trying to accomplish. Did love the UH, Metro, and CWRU shoutouts tho made me feel cool.

[dom]

grizzly topic treated with the interest it probably deserves. renewed my interest in neuroscience reading.
suffers from the strange faux storytelling structure of historical non-fiction but very much held up by the content.

[Sandra Deaconu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinantă!

[Taylor Sabol · Rating 4 out of 5]

was not expecting to learn so much about PETA from this book— this slapped!!!

[Joe LeSueur · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild story. Fascinating things take place in research, and the first translation to clinical care can be suboptimal. Robert White’s work improved surgies with delayed brain injuries through supercooling and perfusion. The book also provided perspective on the Cold War science race, animals in research (PETA), and defining life and death at the Vatican.

[Alejandro González · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ja, olvidé por completo actualizar esta cosa. Excelente historia de un interesante loco limitado solo por las complejidades éticas de la época y por su ignorancia religiosa de atribuir al alma como limitante para la transferencia de órganos.

[Mario Valento · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biography of Robert J White, the promethean neurosurgeon who sought to transplant the head of a paralyzed patient onto a new body, so as to avoid death by organ failure - but also to prove that the soul exists and resides in the brain. On his journey to perform this operation White developed medical techniques, such as brain perfusion, that are used in surgeries across the world today.

Whenever I read about science or medicine from "back then" (aka, a separation as short as a decade) I'm impressed by the sophistication of their methods. White's head transplant, which existed in a prototypical form as early as the 1970s, is no exception.

Schillace does an excellent balancing act in this book, mediating White's career with the greater spheres of Cold War breakneck science and the nascent animal rights movement. Criticism CAN be leveled at her treatment of White, which is mostly positive - she gives him the last word in many of the hot-button ethical debates he involves himself in - but it feels justified. After all, White is a saint compared to most of his interlocutors, and his experiments on animals led to breakthroughts that saved countless lives, and continue to do so. Initially I believed White was both the Mr. Humble and the Dr. Butcher of the title, but after finishing this book I think it's safe to say the latter name is a misguided phantom, rather than the true nature of the man holding the scalpel.

I also think it was a smart decision to somewhat downplay White's religiosity. The attention paid to the triple hooks of the subtitle (A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul) is far from evenly divided. Schillace mostly frames White's desire to "transplant the soul" as the spark for a surgical career that saved countless lives, instead of arguing that his accomplishments are the result of a Christian sense of charity or that his every action is simply a movement in a theological dance.

Read this book if you have any interest in "macabre" medicine, the history of bioethics or organ transplant; want a "mad scientist" type story where the subject isn't evil (though the jury's still out - half of the [8] comments on the YouTube video announcing White's 2010 passing denounce him as the aforementioned misguided phantom); or are fascinated by the idea, once relegated to science fiction but creeping into reality as the 21st century stutters by, of "transplanting" the mind, whether the new destination is another body, a bodiless apparatus, or the network of a grand, conscious computer.

Don't read this book if you believe animal experimentation is wrong and are totally unwilling to change your mind. Much of the first half documents White's trials on monkeys that largely ended in death (and NOT for him). You'll come out the other end convinced that White is but another scrubbed, sterile sociopath who sublimated his bloodlust in the laboratory.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was torn between three and four stars. The story isn't bad, but it's not fantastic.

And, there's enough writing problems, both on big picture editing and on style, to drop it to three.

First, the good/interesting. I had never heard of Dr. Robert White before, and did not know he was the man behind modern brain perfusion, which has made a lot of modern brain surgery possible. That probably includes cranially joined conjoined twins, not even mentioned here.

Some of the ethics issues are good, including White pushing for a (Catholic) theological based version of brain death, the eventual US legal standard of brain death and more.

Also interesting is the way White embraced the "Frankenstein" angle and even better, back to the ethics side, the way he willingly tangled with PETA and defended animal research surgery.

That said, it's uneven as a bio outside of this.

We get snippets of his wife. But, not a lot. What did she think of him, beyond the bits we're told, if available? We get tiny snippets of his kids, not enough to be worth inclusion.

Then, we get a conclusion chapter, which describes the way a semi-collaborator internationally from the "old days" and some of his students are working on spinal repair surgery, along with electrodes bypassing the spine. We're told bits of what White thought about the "cyborg" angle, but not a lot, and especially not if he, in hindsight, regretted his Frankenstein ideas, and/or regarded them as unnecessary. (Exactly what the Frankenstein is, is spoiler alert.)

Then there's the stylistic bits, jarring in part because Schillace is a former professor of literature.

The carotid arteries are described early on as the "great pulsing veins of the neck." Besides coming off as a bit purplish, that's a horrible word picture because the carotid arteries are ARTERIES!

Later, when White flies to Russia, we're told he's cruising over the ocean, which sounds like an ocean liner or cruise ship, but at "60,000 feet," which is not the normal cruising altitude for passenger jets, which is actually under 40,000 feet.

Later on, we're told about a bitterly cold start to a March day in Cleveland that eventually gets in the 50s. Given that the average temp in Cleveland for the full month of March is 47 degrees, anywhere in the 50s would be balmy.

To put it another way, Mary Roach, whose books are guaranteed to be moderately entertaining 3-stars, is among the blurbers. Enough said.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this book is really unfortunate. I assume that the publishers were hoping to grab readers' interest with this science fiction like title.

Brandy Schillace's book is so much more than just weird science. While the focus is on Dr. White and his quest to transplant a human head, there is lots of cutting edge neuroscience packed in this books' pages. While Dr. White successfully transplanted a monkey's head, he was never able to perform this operation on a human due to ethical and financial problems. He wanted to do this operation to extend the lives of people who were paralyzed and near the end of life as the result of accompanying health problems. He planned to transplant the head on to the body of someone who was brain dead. Although the head transplant would not alleviate paralysis because the spine could not be hooked up, it could have extended the lifespan as long as rejection was kept under control.

Much of the book is a biography of Dr. White and his development of perfusion (cooling down the brain and body) to stop damage to organs and systems from swelling due to injury or while in surgery. A major accomplishment that is used many times daily to save lives.

Dr. White was a highly skilled neurosurgeon who saved many lives and prolonged others. Saving lives was his goal. He learned many of his techniques from practicing on monkeys. And this type of research made him the target of animals' rights groups like PETA.

Deeply religious, Dr. White was a catholic, and he was on the front lines of surgery as organ transplants became possible. Ethical and religious questions about when someone was really dead and organ harvest was possible were being brought to the fore at this time. White and others argued that lack of an EEG (seen in brain death) should be the standard rather than a beating heart because medical professional can keep a heart beating with heart/lung machines long after brain function has disappeared. Dr. White met with the Pope hoping to persuade him to this view.

Dr. White loved the practice of medicine and did not mind attention. People who enjoy reading about neurology and medicine would really enjoy this book.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neurologist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Schillace is much more than the subtitle tells. The book is a profile on Dr. Robert White, a neurologist at the forefront of his profession with many of his techniques changing the field and still in use today. In addition the book goes into the history of animal experimentation, the rise of PETA, some of the odd things people call science, which others would call creepy, and more. Dr. White was driven by the idea of transplanting the brain if one person to another, moving souls as some would say, saving and preserving life as he would want the world to think. Dr. white never seemed to doubt his quest no matter how his practice on animals, especially monkeys whose heads he cut off and sewed on, learning more each time he did.

Ms. Schlliace has a gift of making the science and biology easy to understand and interesting no matter how disgusting or odd it might become. Ms. Scholars is quite funny too, which can be good in a book that raises a lot of ethical and moral questions. How can some of the more ghoulish experiments, especially the creation of two-headed dogs in Russia help others? Is it fair that those who can afford it can either freeze or transplant failing organs into immortality? I did enjoy all these questions, even if conclusions are ambiguous and/or still being debated. Dr. White seemed like a good man, with a truly odd sense of humor, but who truly tried to make a difference. A very thoughtful intriguing book.

[Kevin Revolinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is some crazy stuff! The story of a surgeon who actually brought us a number of life-saving discoveries/techniques throughout his distinguished career, but also had a lifelong obsession with trying to transplant the human brain. Even if you make some allowances for some animal testing in science, I think you can guess where the Dr. Butcher part of the title comes from. Some of the procedures were at once abhorrent and shocking, and yet incredible in the sense that you might think some of his "successes" had to be from science fiction, Island of Dr. Moreau sort of vivisection. There is also an abundance of information surrounding Dr. Robert's story, from the advent of organ transplant and the medical/legal definitions of death to similar work done since his death and the continual ethical debates about medicine and advancements. Fascinating and at 257 pages it doesn't run out of steam before you run out of interest. Great read!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I initially plucked this book off the library’s new non-fiction shelf to show my senior English students how cool the library, non-fiction, and learning in general can be. Who wouldn’t want to read a book with a subtitle “A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul?” It was a hard sell, so I started reading it and gave my students updates. I got hooked. How have I never heard this story of monkey head transplants??Science fiction became fact in the 1970s in Dr. White’s lab with the ultimate goal of a human head transplant almost becoming a reality in the 90s.
Schillace’s voice is objective and reminds me of Tara Westover’s (“Educated”) ability to discuss shocking topics with a cool syntax. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants an amazing story but also learn a thing or two.

[Lizze Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

While tracing the history of transplant surgery, this book weaves in its historical context—the space race, civil rights, Peeta, etc.— and maintains the focal point on Dr. Robert White. He’s worth the study: a Catholic, advisor to the Pope, father to 10, neuroscientist and outstanding brain surgeon. I enjoyed this, though I wish the author wouldn’t have posed and reposed the question of when does life end quite so many times; it was a worthwhile question to ask a few times and gave the story more depth, but her musings were too frequent and did not improve the book.

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book. I knew of Dr White’s monkey head transplants, but had no idea his main motivation was to create a stronger Catholic medical ethic.

It’s weird to think that we’ve been able to technically perform head transplants for 50 years now. It’s also weird to think about the fact that organ transplants are a very recent development, as they were completely normalized by the time I was born.


I was also thinking a lot during this book, how science educators like Neil Degrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins claim philosophy is outdated, when White’s work shows that is not the case.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well told biography about an edgy neurosurgeon who made some great advances in brain science but also had some ethically murky ideas about how to get there. Well told weaving in the politics as well as science of the times (1960s up to present). Interesting to think about how I decide what things are Ok and not Ok to do in the name of research and wanting to help people.

[Tyson Grogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's really nothing wrong with this book, but it can become a bit repetitive. I feel much more sympathetic to Dr. White than I expected and it's made my thoughts on scientific progress a bit murkier.

It pushes close to a 4 star book for me, but it wasn't the most enthralling read.

[majra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was SO interesting! I really enjoyed it.

[Karmi Moldovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fascinating book to listen to and learn about neuroscience, transplants and ethical animal testing.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most interesting biography I’ve read in a while about someone who is worthy of remembrance. Dr. White cared deeply for his patients, took on fanatical activists, and pushed the societal and medical limits of neurosurgery - to the point that the line between science and science fiction would blur. He’s the progenitor of many of the techniques used in hospitals and ICUs today. He’s also a native Ohioan and lived, worked, and died in the Cleveland area.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book got more interesting to me the more I got into it. I had no idea about the gruesome experiments that have been done in the name of science. But it was a fascinating read!

[Matthew Galloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are at all the kind of person who would be interested in a scientist who wants to perfect the full body transplant, this is the book for you. It's fascinating and horrifying and sometimes a little inspiring? (but mostly the first two) If there is anything science history books have taught me, it's that every time someone does an unethical thing, society remembers even if individuals don't. And this poisons acceptance of good things. So, you know, scientists, try not to be total creeps and pay attention to your various ethics boards. ;)

[Rachel Rogerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed! It had a promising start but got bogged down with long, repetitive descriptions of various (not for the faint of heart) description of experimental brain surgery. After the fifth transplant description, I couldn't keep going.

[Teju · Rating 5 out of 5]

An fascinating look into a piece of history that most, except the ardentest of buffs, would have no clue about, yet, one of such importance that it should be addedd to the recommended reading of every profession.

The melding of story telling and fact is leagues beyond excellent. Cinematic, yet firmly rooted in fact. Engaging, but neutral to the extent one could hope to be neutral, given the polarising topic.

Ms. Schillace's skill deserves hats to doffed.