To Be a Machine: Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death

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Review ------ **Finalist for the 2017 Royal Society In Investment Science Book Prize** **Shortlisted for the 2017 Baillie-Gifford Prize for Nonfiction** 'Troubling and humorous, this is one of my current give-it-to-everyone books--I buy six copies at a time. Did you know our future belongs to a few asocial geeks for whom being human has always been a problem? Now they can solve it!' --Jeanette Winterson, Vulture 'O'Connell... dissects the practices and beliefs of trans-humanism with extraordinary exuberance and wit... To Be a Machine is sometimes hilarious (triggering several bursts of uncontrollable giggles while I read it on the Tube) but even as O'Connell mocks the more absurd manifestations of trans-humanism he shows sympathy and understanding for its adherents.' -- Financial Times 'To Be a Machine is an attempt to understand the transhumanist movement on its own terms... It's O'Connell's lack of stridency, as well as his often splendid writing, that makes him such a companionable guide.'--The Guardian. 'By exposing the ludicrous yet terrifyingly serious ideologies behind transhumanism, To Be a Machine is an important book, as well as a seriously funny one.' -- Sunday Times 'O'Connell invokes the twin spectres of death and child-bearing in an attempt to make sense of his subject--but he also manages to be staggeringly funny.' -- New Scientist 'O'Connell, a columnist for Slate, is a charming, funny tour guide. Writing on transhumanism often gets swept away by the inherent drama of its adherents' promises, but O'Connell's eye for small human details...keeps the narrative grounded in a way that rigorous scientific debunking wouldn't.' -- Vice 'An enlightening tour of transhumanism... packed with eccentric characters...An unsettling but informative and sometimes-optimistic view of mostly legitimate efforts at life extension.'-- Kirkus Reviews 'Provocative, funny and not a little gonzo, it's a great one to recommend to devotees of Jon Ronson -- --Bookseller 'O'Connell invokes the twin spectres of death and child-bearing in an attempt to make sense of his subject--but he also manages to be staggeringly funny.' -- New Scientist '[A] Homer's Odyssey for the digital age.... A gentle, humorous and lovingly written book.' -- The Times '[A] beautifully written book... Ultimately, To Be A Machine is both an in into transhumanist thought and O'Connell's very relatable fears and anxieties about morality and the future.' -- Irish Times 'Comedic, unsettling, ambivalent, and intriguing...O'Connell's book is a worthwhile read for all audiences.' -- LitHub 'A voyage into the dark heart of transhumanism, where dwell many hopeful mind-uploaders, robo-warfighters, subdermal imers, doomed immortalists, and sundry aging Singularitarians. A funny, wise, and oddly moving book' --Nicholson Baker, author of House of Holes and Human Smoke 'Hilarious and moving.... To Be a Machine is super-detailed and cosmic and minute and high-stakes and funny and sad, all at the same time.' ---- Elif Batuman, author of The Possessed About the Author ---------------- Mark O'Connell is a journalist, essayist, and literary critic from Dublin. He is a books columnist for Slate, a staff writer at The Millions, and a regular contributor to the New Yorker's 'Page-Turner' blog and the Dublin Review; his work has been published in the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and the Observer.