Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine

(Paperback, Main)

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As heard on BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

An eye-opening account of disability, identity, and how robotics and AI are altering our understanding of what it means to be human - from the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Soldier

Harry Parker's life changed overnight, when he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. That took him into an often surprising landscape of a very human kind of hacking, and he wondered, are all humans becoming hybrids

Whether it's putting on contact lenses every day or DIY biohackers tinkering in garages, Parker introduces us to the exhilarating breadth of human invention - and intervention. Grappling with his own new identity and disability, he discovers the latest robotics, tech and implants that might lead us to powerful, liberating possibilities for what a body can be.

'I loved Hybrid Humans. A way of looking at the future without nostalgia for the past' - Jeanette Winterson

Reviews

'Fascinating ... Parker's writing is elegant and often lyrical ... As someone who has lived as a "hybrid" for more than a decade, Parker never forgets the realities of everyday life, which encompass both pain and beauty. This may be a tour of the scientific avant garde, but the focus is always on the human heart and mind' - Book of the Day

'Harry Parker has explored the cutting edge of interaction between humanity, computing and AI ... a captivating and cautionary travel guide to a new world' - Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

'I loved Hybrid Humans. It is modest, wise ... and a way of looking at the future without nostalgia for the past' - Jeanette Winterson

'A terrific writer' - Elizabeth Day

'Hybrid Hymans is an argument for the work of salvage ... The cracks - the brokenness intimating precarity and mortality - create value and even beauty, as well as ways to connect with others' - Times Literary Supplement

Author Bio

Harry Parker is the author of Anatomy of a Soldier (2016), translated in eight languages. He grew up in Wiltshire, and was educated at Falmouth College of Art and University College London. He joined the British Army when he was 23 and served in Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2009 as a Captain. He is now a writer and artist and lives in London.