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| View Larger Image | Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream
by Carl Elliott
by Peter D. Kramer
| | List Price: | $14.95 | | Price: | $10.17 | | You Save: | $4.78 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks | | | | | Sales Rank: | 63589 | | Studio: | W. W. Norton & Company | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 384 | | Publication Date: | December 31, 1969 | | Publisher: | W. W. Norton & Company |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
"Elliott's absorbing account will make readers think again about the ways that science shapes our personal identities."—American Scientist Americans have always been the world's most anxiously enthusiastic consumers of "enhancement technologies." Prozac, Viagra, and Botox injections are only the latest manifestations of a familiar pattern: enthusiastic adoption, public hand-wringing, an occasional congressional hearing, and calls for self-reliance. In a brilliant diagnosis of our reactions to self-improvement technologies, Carl Elliott asks questions that illuminate deep currents in the American character: Why do we feel uneasy about these drugs, procedures, and therapies even while we embrace them? Where do we draw the line between self and society? Why do we seek self-realization in ways so heavily influenced by cultural conformity? |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 7 reviews)
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Starts Out Great, But... 
I got this book based on his April 2006 Atlantic Monthly article. Turns out that he spends nearly the first two chapters with a focus on patients who have undergone sex change operations. Lots of useful information and insights...but he does overanalyze "identity." I realized that he doesn't quite "get it" when he asserted that we teach our children to fake gratitude and appreciation to others.
July 05, 2007 | |
A Must-Read! 
He demonstrates incredible insight when discussing moral and scientific dilemmas in modern American context, a must-read!
September 03, 2005 | |
This book will get you thinking...
Elliott's book is a good read for those who have ever worried about America's growing obsession with medicine and technology. Even if you haven't ever wondered or thought about this part of American life, read the book anyway, because you should probably start. Elliott brings in a little of everything: the past, present and future, and scientific data as well as personal opinion, in order to ask the question, 'So where are we going with all this?' I think that this book can start a lot of us out on the right foot in trying to answer that question...
July 12, 2003 | |
Packed with philosophical whupass
A fascinating look enhancement technologies, from Ritalin to sex changes to voluntary amputations. Journalistic in style, but packs some serious philosophical ...
April 23, 2003 | |
Disturbing 
A very interesting look at the various "enhancement" procedures and medications that have become so widely used in our society. One of the more disturbing trends is that of voluntary amputation. This apparently is sought by people with healthy limbs who feel uncomfortable with their bodies.For example,a man who felt that his legs were never really a true part of him,may choose to become a double amputee. Not for the faint of heart.
April 08, 2003 | |
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