Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition: Science Slightly Over the Edge

by Ed Regis

Book Overview

Life forever ... defy gravity...travel to Andromeda, all in the comfort of your home and with no obligation Great Mambo Chicken is a riotously funny book that takes us romping through an underground network of scientists and brings us up to date (and beyond) on the cutting edge of better living through chemistry, physics and math.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201092581
• ISBN13: 9780201092585
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Passionate and Visionary - More than he realized...

This is a great and funny book. Yesterday and today, there were articles on the web about Ted William's body at Alcor, having the head severed and both the head and body frozen. In this book's funniest chapter, titled, "Heads will roll". One of the book's characters takes his poor sick mother to Alcor, and they sever her head as she's about to die. The ensuing legal and criminal implications are a riot as they first start to attempt to get a death certificate to get her body buried. The coroner is highly suspicious that a body without a head, "died of pneumonia." Criminal charges and other problems erupt. Hard to believe that similar issues have surfaced again 12 years after this book first appeared. If you like science and seeing the amusing side of it, then you will enjoy this book.

Lots of stuff to talk about

My son, now 18, and I read books to each other on all kinds of subjects. By far, this book, although not long, took the longest to get through, but only because there was so much good stuff to talk about: what is human-ness, what about immortality, what will the future look like? We'd read a couple of paragraphs and talk about it and then read some more and discuss some more. It's good science, but still accessible and light-hearted in just the right places.

Fringe--or future?

This book provides a fun look at the science of what *could* be, as well as a look at the occasionally eccentric people who don't just dream about the possibilities--they take'em on. While some of the ideas covered here are admittedly "out there", the presentation style, in my opinion, is sarcastic enough to show skepticism without being out-and-out judgemental, which I appreciated. Prepare to be surprised at what some folks are trying to do right now (er..."now" being when the book was written, so heaven only knows *what* they're up to as of 2001)--but I'd say this one is for the optimists, excited by, not afraid of, what the future will hold.

Apparently widely misunderstood...

....[Regis is] trying to say that science doesn't have to be stuffy, regimented and boring. He is saying that science can be done at home, in the back yard, by anybody. It doesn't have to be done by some international mega-corporation, or a bloated government agency. But most of all, he is saying that the science we understand now doesn't say that the universe is predictable and straightforward. Rather, Regis points out that the universe is a weird place, much weirder than most people realize, and it is only going to get weirder and weirder.Regis clearly likes to poke a little fun at some of the characters he writes about, but I get the strong impression that he admires these people more than the ivory tower variety of professors and scientists who wouldn't know a revolutionary new idea if it hit them over the head. He shows a great respect for these people, and makes the reader wish he had personally witnessed the events described.And not all of the science described in the book is as far-fetched as some reviewers would have you believe. If you've been asleep for the past couple of years, you might not have heard how the US government budgeted $500 million for nanotechnology research in 2000, or how Japan has matched or even exceeded that amount. If you haven't read K. Eric Drexler's excellent introduction to nanotech "Engines of Creation", then I don't know how you could comment on the feasibility of such technology. And if you think nanotech doesn't have a solid scientific foundation, then I suggest you try to tackle Drexler's "Nanosystems". As for the feasibility of back yard rockets, there is no question we will have that technology someday. You know, Orville and Wilbur were just bicycle mechanics before they built the first working airplane. And the first natives to reach Hawaii didn't need a government grant or industry supported technology to help them navigate and cross the Pacific.Lastly, cryogenics and other attempts to extend human lifespan are looking more and more feasible everyday. If there is one lesson to be learned from science, it is probably "Never say never." You know, the Earth was once flat, and people thought it was sure death to accelerate the human body over 15 miles per hour...Regis' book is a great starting point for anyone interested in Extropy, Transhumanism, the Singularity, AI, Nanotech, or any other science-based view of our impending weird future.

Still great after 5 years...

In February 1993 I received a copy of this book from my friend. He had given it to me as a joke, him thinking that the name was funny. I chose to read the book and that first night was on Chapter 3. I couldn't put it down! Each time I turned the page I was led deeper and deeper into the dreams others had for the future of humanity. some of them seemed misguided, some far-fetched, but Mr. Regis found a way to connect it all in such a way that it made total sense to me. After I finished reading "The Great Mambo Chicken" I passed it on to a friend who enjoyed reading it so much that they went out and got their own copy. By the Fall of 1995 most of my close friends had either read or were in the process of reading "The Great Mambo Chicken". Then I lost my copy... One of my friends had borrowed the book one night after getting a few chapters into it. At the end of that year (us both being in college) we went our separate ways. I ended up in Germany while he continued with his education in the US. Finally after two years of nagging I got my "Great Mambo Chicken" back. The first thing that I did was open it up and begin reading. So, 5 years, one High School Diploma, a BA and a year long trip to Germany, after I first received my copy, the book still seems to draw me back. This time I am not going to loan out my copy. I will recommend it and give it 5 stars--but you're going to have to get your own copy if you want to read "The Great Mambo Chicken"!