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Hybrid Humans

Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine

Front cover of the book 'Hybrid Humans' by Harry Parker

A gripping, eye-opening account of how technology might be about to alter our understanding of what it means to be human – from the bestselling author of ‘Anatomy of a Soldier’.

A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

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’. It is modest, wise... and a way of looking at the future without nostalgia for the past.

Jeanette Winterson

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’

Read an extract from the book

Join an event with the author

Date published
Format
Paperback
Extent
256 pages
ISBN
9781788163118

About the author

Black and white photograph of Harry Parker

Harry Parker

Harry Parker is the author of ‘Anatomy of a Soldier’ (2016), translated into 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.