The Body Factory: From the First Prosthetics to the Augmented Human - by Heloise Chochois (Paperback)

About the Book

A graphic novel exploring amputation, revealing details about famous amputees throughout history, the invention of the tourniquet, phantom limb syndrome, types of prostheses, and transhumanist technologies.

Book Synopsis

A young man has a horrible motorcycle accident. He wakes up in the hospital to discover that one of his arms has been amputated. Then a portrait on the wall of his hospital room begins to speak to him. The subject of the painting introduces himself as Ambroise Paré, the French barber-surgeon who revolutionized the art of amputation. From this wonderfully absurd premise, the two begin an imaginary conversation that takes them through a sweeping history of surgical amputation, from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Unencumbered by pathos or didacticism, this graphic novel explores the world of amputation, revealing fascinating details about famous amputees throughout history, the invention of the tourniquet, phantom limb syndrome, types of prostheses, and transhumanist technologies.
Playfully illustrated and seriously funny, The Body Factory is sure to delight anyone interested in the history and future of medicine and how we repairï¿9;and even enhanceï¿9;the body.

Review Quotes

BOOKLIST -- In this narrative nonfiction translation from the French, we follow a man who requires an amputation following an accident. His conversations with Ambroise Paré, "the father of amputation," lead to discussions on amputation, phantom limb, prostheses, and transhumanism, each topic receiving its own chapter, with the man's personal experiences depicted in between. The chapters on amputation and prostheses are straightforward and informative, while the one on phantom limb, which focuses on the nervous system, is more complex. The topic of transhumanism seems misplaced here, with its discussion of how people view the use of technology to enhance the physical and emotional experiences of humans, and readers may wonder at the lack of focus on psychological effects. As a whole, the book feels like a 1950s educational film and doesn't shy away from humor. Many illustrations have a surreal quality, though the medical portions are more realistic. Recommend this to patrons who enjoy graphic works on medicine's evolution, such as Fabiani's Medicine: A Graphic History (2020), or to adventurous Mary Roach fans.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED) -- Chochois's insightful storytelling and fresh, playful art turn what could be a grim topic-the science of amputation-into an engaging scientific tour. She frames the narrative around a fictional protagonist who loses an arm in a motorcycle accident. When he awakes in a hospital, pioneering 16th-century surgeon Ambroise Paré emerges from a portrait and takes the amputee on a weird and wonderful time-traveling tour of the history of amputation and prosthetics, from 10,000 BCE to an imagined transhumanist cyborg future. Woven throughout are tender, wordless interludes in which the amputee struggles to adapt to his new life with one arm, relearning how to drink tea, play video games, and hug his partner. Chochois's skill shows in how she elegantly balances information with visual narrative, avoiding the text-dense pitfalls of many a science comic info dump. As the tale delves into discussing the finer points of phantom limb syndrome and diagrams of prosthesis design, Chochois's clean, expressive linework remains full of charming details that keep the pacing airy. The amputee dreams of a prosthetic arm that ends in a handy whisk, tissue box, or lighter. (Sorry, a doctor explains, reality is much less exciting). This surprisingly delightful and empathetic examination offers an exemplar in the graphic medicine genre.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Gr 8 Up-A young man loses his arm in a motorcycle accident, and as he recuperates, the ghost of renowned surgeon Ambroise Paré appears to him and leads him through the history of amputation, the neurology of the phantom limb, the development of prosthetics, and the future of artificially augmented bodies. In between these four chapters are wordless black-and-white sequences in which the young man recovers from his injury, copes with phantom limb as well as the emotional consequences, and learns to use his prosthetic arm. While the subject matter is not for the squeamish, Chochois uses a cartoony, upbeat style and a lighthearted tone. Injuries are depicted as simple shapes with a minimum of gore, although some of the anatomical sections, such as the depiction of the steps in amputating an arm, are more detailed. Readers may find the section on the neurology of pain a bit too technical, and the discussion of transhumanism at the end somewhat bewildering, but the rest of the book is entertaining and a fascinating read.

About the Author

Héloïse Chochois is a scientific illustrator who debuted as a graphic novelist with the blog Infiltrée chez les physiciens. She is the author and illustrator of Intelligences artificielles.