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

**Finalist for the 2017 Royal Society Insight 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 insight 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 implanters, 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

WINNER OF THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE 2018 Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2017 A stunning new non-fiction voice tackles an urgent question... what next for mankind? 'Troubling and humorous, this is one of my current give-it-to-everyone books - I buy six copies at a time' Jeanette Winterson