How to Make a Zombie: The Real Life (And Death) Science of Reanimation and Mind Control - Brossura

Swain, Frank

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1851689443 ISBN 13: 9781851689446

Casa editrice: Oneworld Pubns Ltd, 2013

Riassunto

The search for the means to control the bodies and minds of our fellow humans has been underway for millennia, from the sleep-inducing honeycombs that felled Pompey's army to the famous voodoo potions of Haiti. But recently, science has taken up the quest. Science punk Frank Swain digs into the reality of zombies: dog heads brought back to life without their bodies; secret agents dosing targets with zombie drugs; parasites that push their hosts to suicide or sex changes; bulls and rats commanded by remote control; city streets designed to quell violent thoughts; interrogation techniques used by the military; and viruses that take over the body and won't let go. Packed with untold stories moldering in the corners of archives and labs, How to Make a Zombie is a mind-bending, entertaining excavation of incredible science.

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Recensione:

"The stories are wonderful and well told. Readers get extensive coverage of [Sergei] Bryukhonenko’s grisly research and Walter Freeman’s lobotomy industry more than 200 operations in one two-week period! and the Turkish honey that drives people mad and the wasps that make caterpillars guard their cocooning young and a virus that makes its host violent . The book is alive. The zombie tales Swain tells are love stories." -Washington Post

"The books succeeds wonderfully as a hybrid, stitched-together work, not unlike some of the composite creatures Swain describes: one part history, two parts science and at least three parts 'I can't believe someone did that!' Fascinating." Smithsonian magazine

"Those curious about scientific attempts to control the minds and bodies of others will relish this accessible, informative, and anecdote-rich account Unsettling and fascinating." Publishers Weekly

"Frank Swain's gripping book, How to Make a Zombie, reads like a non-fiction version of a Stephen King novel you'll stay up all night reading it with goose bumps and the lights on. This story of life, death, and the grey areas in between, and the scientific (and pseudoscientific) attempts at resuscitation, resurrection, and immortality, is the best account I've read of what has to be humanity's biggest fear (death) and the lengths we have gone to in order to circumvent its finality. I read it straight through in one sitting, and so will you." Michael Shermer, New York Times best-selling author of The Believing Brain and columnist, Scientific American

"Swain serves up a ghoulish treat the real-life zombies of science and nature! Packed full of bizarre research and jaw-dropping tales, his book succeeds in being simultaneously entertaining, informative, and slightly unnerving, since it turns out that the zombies are, quite likely, you and I." Alex Boese, best-selling author of Elephants on Acid and Electrified Sheep

"From attempts to reanimate animals from death to mind control experiments and brain-hacking parasites, this delightfully macabre book explores the reality of zombie mythology. Science punk Frank Swain has pulled off a masterful feat in this broad-ranging and fascinating book. Braiiiins!" Dr. Lewis Dartnell, Research Fellow, University of Leicester, and author of Life in the Universe

"No one will nod off during this grand tour of sorcerers, necromancers, secret societies, and people who mess with brains and the black market in body parts . Swain has a juicy cast of contenders responsible for such activities, and he presents them with point-by-point progress, leaving the facts to wow readers but providing both moody and electric atmosphere." Kirkus Reviews

L'autore:

Frank Swain is a science writer and the founder of SciencePunk, the popular SEED ScienceBlogs site devoted to the fringes of science. A regular contributor to media including Wired and The Guardian, he has a history of climbing buildings, managing burlesque shows, and generally being a force for good –and the scientific method. This is his first book. He lives in London, England.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Oneworld Pubns Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1851689443
• ISBN 13: 9781851689446
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 256