How to Grow a Human

Philip Ball – an editor of Nature and presenter on BBC Radio – parses what it means to be an individual in the face of technological advances that raise fundamental questions about the concept of being alive. He compels you to consider the sociological nature of these questions and posits that biology plays a neutral role in determining who we are as humans. Despite all the research on the sources of human life, Ball maintains that individuality manifests in the body.

Science said, “Ball’s look at the state of human-facing cutting-edge bio­science is a thought-provoking read.” Nature found this “should probably come with a warning: You might never look at the life sciences in quite the same way again.” And Chemistry World wrote, “Ball skillfully guides us through the last hundred years…of our love affair with tinkering with a cell.”