Description

A BEST BOOK OF 2023 FOR THE TELEGRAPH, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW SCIENTIST AND STYLIST
A NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB MUST READ 2023

You may be familiar with the idea of our body’s biome – the bacterial fauna that populates our gut and can so profoundly affect our health. In We Are Electric we cross the next frontier of scientific understanding: discover your body’s electrome.

Every cell in our bodies – bones, skin, nerves, muscle – has a voltage, like a tiny battery. This bioelectricity is why our brains can send signals to our bodies, why we develop the way we do in the womb and how our bodies know to heal themselves from injury. When bioelectricity goes awry, illness, deformity and cancer can result. But if we can control or correct this bioelectricity, the implications for our health are remarkable: an undo switch for cancer that could flip malignant cells back into healthy ones; the ability to regenerate cells, organs, even limbs; to slow ageing and so much more.

In We Are Electric, award-winning science writer Sally Adee explores the history of bioelectricity: from Galvani’s epic eighteenth-century battle with the inventor of the battery, Alessandro Volta, to the medical charlatans claiming to use electricity to cure pretty much anything, to advances in the field helped along by the unusually massive axons of squid. And finally, she journeys into the future of the discipline, through today’s laboratories where we are starting to see real-world medical applications being developed.

The bioelectric revolution starts here.

Publisher Review

Adee explores the chemical and electrical ferment underpinning all growth and life, highlighting the pioneers and charlatans who discovered and exploited "bioelectricity", [she] also conjures electric medicine: a future of good health, regenerated tissue and (perhaps) extended life * * New Scientist * * This book blew my mind. We Are Electric is a thrilling read, and Sally Adee explains everything from the intricacies of our electric cells to the potential for new medical treatments - and brain-hacking - with a sparkling clarity -- MICHAEL BROOKS, author of 13 THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE A book that'll make you fundamentally rethink what you know and appreciate about your body * * Stylist * * The electrome may be as important to our understanding of life as the genetic code - yet few of us are aware of these groundbreaking developments. With scintillating storytelling, Sally Adee takes us to into the heart of this scientific revolution and its potential to transform medicine. We Are Electric is science writing at its very best - it shimmers with wit and insight. Prepare to be entertained, enlightened and, yes, electrified by this brilliant book -- DAVID ROBSON, author of THE EXPECTATION EFFECT That tingle you feel when you bite your tongue? It's voltage - electricity seeping out of the wound. It's not just neurons that send electrical signals around the body - all our tissues do it, and all of them respond to, and are programmed by, electricity. As Sally Adee describes with great wit and insight, we are nothing without electricity: it's the stuff of life, and of death. This is such a thrilling, compelling and energising book - reading it I couldn't help picturing the author as Zeus, chucking lightning bolts at me. Such a timely book, too. The future is - I'm sorry, I can't help it - electrifying -- ROWAN HOOPER, author of SUPERHUMAN The 'ohmigod-that's-so-cool' moments come thick and fast as she brings the science up to date, investigating today's cutting edge and what the future may hold for bio-electric medicine. It's a vast and hugely exciting area of scientific research, shared with infectious enthusiasm, a real depth of knowledge and smart and funny turn of phrase. You'll never think of life in the same way again -- CAROLINE WILLIAMS, author of MOVE!: THE NEW SCIENCE OF BODY OVER MIND If you thought genetics were the secret of life, think again: in We Are Electric, Sally Adee vividly explores the magic of bioelectricity, and how it affects every aspect of our being. A joy to read - I loved this book -- DR JOSEPH JEBELLI, author of HOW THE MIND WORKS