X-Message-Number: 4555
From: 
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 1995 19:38:41 -0400
Subject: DuCharme book

                   A BETTER CRYONICS SALESMAN?

Wesley M. du Charme has kindly sent us a copy of his new book, BECOMING
IMMORTAL: Nanotechnology, You, and the Demise of Death. (Self-published as
Blue Creek Ventures, P.O. Box 3266, Evergreen CO 80439. Good quality hard
cover, about 260 pp, $25, volume discounts.)

His doctorate is (apparently) in psychology from the University of Michigan;
he is also a Senior Associate of the Foresight Institute; no other
credentials are listed on the jacket, which calls the book "...the first...to
link nanotechnology and cryonics together in a balanced fashion."

First, the mild negatives. Since the book is self-published, it seems the
author couldn't find a commercial publisher for another book on
cryonics/immortalism. (Well, Charles Platt couldn't either recently, and last
time I tried, a few years ago, I couldn't either.) There is no foreword by
anyone, and no jacket encomium by anyone except Alcor President Steve Bridge
(no offense, Steve, but you're not as famous as Madonna)--not even by
Drexler, who has a central place of honor in the book. There are also a few
relatively innocuous historical mistakes, of a type not likely to be made by
old hands; but then, we need NEW hands.

Are these new hands cleverer than the old? We don't know yet, and we may not
even know later, since selling books is one thing and selling cryonics is
another, and the changing circumstances may make it impossible to assign any
clear degree of credit. But the author clearly thinks he does have a sharper
pen, and a useful background in psychology. Let's hope he's right.

As far as I can see at a quick reading, the book has little to offer cryonics
veterans, except a rather nice sprinkling of aphorisms, a few of which were
new to me. It is mainly an attempt to undermine the preconceived objections
of Mr./Mrs. Mainstreet, coax them along, and finally get them to drop their
prejudices and become revolutionaries. The assumed readership technical
educational level is generally very low; the glossary includes "atom,"
"bacteria," and "cell."

Perhaps the most positive aspect is just the existence or appearance of the
book--a substantial labor and investment by someone, reasonably qualified or
at least respectable, who has investigated extensively and carries the torch.
It is CERTAINLY worth buying by any Cryonet reader who is relatively new and
wants some reassurance or further incentive.

Robert Ettinger
Immortalist Society
Cryonics Institute


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4555