Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World - Softcover

Chorost, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618717609 ISBN 13: 9780618717606

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2006

Synopsis

After Michael Chorost suddenly lost what was left of his hearing, he took the radical step of having a cochlear implant -- a tiny computer -- installed in his head. A technological marvel, the device not only restored to him the world of sound but also could be routinely upgraded with new software. Despite his intitial fear of the technology's potentially dehumanizing effects, Chorost's implant allowed him to connect with others in surprising ways: as a cyborg, he learned about love, joined a writing group, and formed deeper friendships. More profoundly, his perception of the world around him was dramatically altered.

Brimming with insight and written with charm and self-deprecating humor, Rebuilt unveils, in personal terms, the astounding possibilities of a new technological age.

About this title

From the Author:

I wrote "Rebuilt" to convey what it's like to have part of one's body controlled by a computer. Science fiction has long explored the idea of the "cyborg" -- the fusion of human and machine -- but now medical technology has made it possible to write about becoming a cyborg for real. When I went completely deaf in 2001 I received a cochlear implant, which is a computer embedded in the skull with electrodes drilled an inch and a half inside the head to control the user's auditory nerves. What scared me was not so much the surgery itself as the fact that I was turning over my perception of the world to a computer. The computer would decide exactly what was important for me to hear and what wasn't, and it could be reprogrammed at will. There's a lot of science in the book as I explain the implant's remarkable design and software, but I also reach into philosophy, literature, and literary theory to explore what it means to have a writable, editable, and controllable body. I wanted the book to be a memoir of a transformative experience, so I write frankly about how my cochlear implant changed my perspective on my friendships, my dating life, and on computers themselves. Reviewers have found the book both affecting and funny, which is just what I'd hoped.

About the Author:

Michael Chorost has a B.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He lives in San Francisco, where he writes, teaches, and consults.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0618717609
• ISBN 13: 9780618717606
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240