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A review by amess
Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey's Head, the Pope's Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Schillace
dark
informative
medium-paced
4.75
Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher is a historical and biographical tale of the quest to transplant the human mind/soul, which was pursued by Dr. Robert White.
Schillace does a wonderful job remaining objective and unbiased on Dr. White's work as well as the ethics surrounding it while also highlighting the controversies of his work- such as the PETA-led animal rights abuse accusations geared toward his experiments on rhesus monkeys. Whether the work would have been stronger had Schillace lobbied any criticisms of his work (which did end up having practical uses in the surgery field, but his end goal remained unfulfilled) remains to be seen.
I do think Schillace sometimes focused too much on White as a person as well as his family in clear attempts to humanize him when his family seemed to be separate from his career.
However, this was a fascinating look into medical science as well as deeper questions such as what is considered death and to what extent medicine should intervene in that process.
Schillace does a wonderful job remaining objective and unbiased on Dr. White's work as well as the ethics surrounding it while also highlighting the controversies of his work- such as the PETA-led animal rights abuse accusations geared toward his experiments on rhesus monkeys. Whether the work would have been stronger had Schillace lobbied any criticisms of his work (which did end up having practical uses in the surgery field, but his end goal remained unfulfilled) remains to be seen.
I do think Schillace sometimes focused too much on White as a person as well as his family in clear attempts to humanize him when his family seemed to be separate from his career.
However, this was a fascinating look into medical science as well as deeper questions such as what is considered death and to what extent medicine should intervene in that process.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Graphic descriptions and pictures of animal experimentation