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Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Kathryn Harkup
19 posts | 8 read | 41 to read
The year 1818 saw the publication of one of the most influential science-fiction stories of all time. Frankenstein: Or, Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley had a huge impact on gothic horror and science fiction genres. The name Frankenstein has become part of our everyday language, often used in derogatory terms to describe scientists who have overstepped a perceived moral line. But how did a 19-year-old woman with no formal education come up with the idea for an extraordinary novel such as Frankenstein? The period of 1790-1820 saw huge advances in our understanding of electricity and physiology. Sensational science demonstrations caught the imagination of the general public, and newspapers were full of tales of murderers and resurrectionists.It is unlikely that Frankenstein would have been successful in his attempts to create life back in 1818. However, advances in medical science mean we have overcome many of the stumbling blocks that would have thwarted his ambition. We can resuscitate people using defibrillators, save lives using blood transfusions, and prolong life through organ transplants--these procedures are nowadays considered almost routine. Many of these modern achievements are a direct result of 19th century scientists conducting their gruesome experiments on the dead.Making the Monster explores the science behind Shelley's book. From tales of reanimated zombie kittens to electrical experiments on human cadavers, Kathryn Harkup examines the science and scientists that influenced Mary Shelley and inspired her most famous creation, Victor Frankenstein. While, thankfully, we are still far from being able to recreate Victor's "creature," scientists have tried to create the building blocks of life, and the dream of creating life-forms from scratch is now tantalizingly close.
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jenniferw88
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jenniferw88
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Pickpick
Cinfhen I haven‘t read her before…what else do u recommend ??? 10mo
jenniferw88 @Cinfhen I've read 2 others by her - A is for Arsenic (about Agatha Christie and the poisons she uses in her novels) and Death by Shakespeare (about his methods of killing his characters). There's also books about vampires, James Bond, scientific molecules and elements, but I haven't read them yet! 10mo
jenniferw88 @Cinfhen the James Bond and Molecule ones aren't available in paperback yet. 10mo
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Cinfhen Cool 😎 thanks 10mo
jenniferw88 @Cinfhen another fun/interesting fact (?!) I used the Shakespeare one last year for #booked2022 #makeyourownprompt! 10mo
Librarybelle This is on my to read list! 10mo
Deblovestoread Stacked! 10mo
Cinfhen That‘s funny!! Good memory🤓 10mo
dabbe @Deblovestoread #ditto! 🤣😍🤩 10mo
63 likes4 stack adds9 comments
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jenniferw88
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#booked2023 @Cinfhen @alisiakae @BarbaraTheBibliophage

I'm excited about all the prompts but this has to be my book for this one! 🤣🤣🤣

Cinfhen Ohhhhh!!! I need a book for this prompt!!! Thanks for sharing 😊 1y
jenniferw88 @Cinfhen I've just added a lot of books to Storygraph so you'll want to check there. There are several books that are on multiple prompts, but this will change once I know for sure which prompt I'm using it for. 1y
Cinfhen Will check it out!! 1y
36 likes3 comments
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Bookworm54
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I am looking forward to this book, but it‘s taking me a while to get around to it. I am a sucker for sciencey books about spooky/paranormal stuff 🤣

#OminousOctober #Monster #Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash

Eggs Perfect 🤩 1y
36 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Mitch
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I could listen to Alice and Kim talk about books all day long! This latest a episode all about Mary Shelly is a good introduction to them if you‘ve not listened before!

#nfn2020

rsteve388 I started listening to this episode last night. It was enjoyable. 3y
Mitch @rsteve388 I love the banter between them - they have good chemistry and are good with describing books of course! 3y
Reggie I really love these hosts. They are so funny and kind. I love when Alice gets fired up about the women‘s suffrage movement. 3y
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eraderneely One of my favorites!!! 3y
MallenNC I love this podcast so much! I love when one of them tells the other “that‘s a good pick”. It just tickles me for some reason. I‘ve gotten lots of good ideas from them too. 3y
Mitch @MallenNC I know exactly what you mean! 🤣 3y
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mollyrotondo
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ So I just reread Frankenstein last week and I am so happy that this nonfiction book about the science behind Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein was my No. 9 #bookspin pick! It was so interesting to read about the influences that the Enlightenment had on the writing of the book. And I learned so much about dissection and the human body and lightening! It was a great way to start off my #screamathon reading!

marleed Ohh, I just read Frankenstein for the first time. Thanks for this recommendation! 3y
mollyrotondo @marleed it‘s a perfect read after Frankenstein! 3y
TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Sounds intriguing!! 3y
Pruzy I remember reading this book a few years ago. It was great! Glad you found it. 3y
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LeahBergen
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vivastory Nice! 4y
Cedricsmom Tell us what this is about! 4y
Reviewsbylola This looks cool! 🔪 4y
69 likes6 stack adds3 comments
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shanaqui

So far this is more a biography of Mary Shelley than anything. The science is there, but mostly in the background; it's more about the formational influences. Not as interesting as Harkup's book on Agatha Christie's poison plots, so far, but there's time!

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jenniferw88
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Cinfhen Clever!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 5y
TrishB Agreed- clever pick 👍🏻 5y
Ruthiella Awesome 😎!!! 5y
92 likes3 comments
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LeahBergen
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Cinfhen Such a striking cover❣️❣️❣️and the book sounds fabulous 5y
Moray_Reads I enjoyed this one! 5y
yourfavouritemixtape This sounds really interesting! 5y
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rubyslippersreads I hope you‘re not starting a DIY project. 😂 5y
Cathythoughts Nice pic 👍🏻 5y
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JessNevertheless
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Read a little slower this month but spent a lot of time with family and friends so I can‘t complain. Managed to finish my last book at 11:50 pm last night so I made my two nonfiction books a month goal! Tagged book was still my overall favorite, I‘m a sucker for science/history nonfiction and the gothic theme really sealed the deal #marchstats

Andrew65 Well done 👏 6y
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Moray_Reads
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Pickpick

Something of a mixed bag. The biographical sections were oddly weak; tentative and stilted but Harkup hit her stride when the science took the fore. I'm already familiar with the basics of natural philosophy, alchemy and early medicine but more the detailed discussions of transplants, transfusions and electricity were fascinating. The links to Frankenstein were rather tenuous but overall an intriguing and enjoyable read.

minkyb Book 100‼️👏🏻 6y
45 likes1 comment
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JessNevertheless
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May have gone a bit overboard in the #nonfiction section of the bookstore today, but I don‘t regret it one bit! I‘m especially excited for the tagged book, it was pretty much an auto-buy #bookhaul

LeahBergen Ooo, I want the tagged one, too! 6y
Oryx These all look really good 6y
LauraJ Loved Spook! The other two are right up my alley. 6y
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Linsy Oooh, the right two have been on my list! 💕 6y
laundry_piles These look great! 6y
JessNevertheless @LeahBergen Loving it so far!! 6y
JessNevertheless @Oryx @laundry_piles Thanks! Been really in a science history mood lately 🔬⚗️💚 6y
JessNevertheless @LauraJ I‘m really exited for Spook! Was hoping to find Stiff but found this instead. Looks great! 6y
JessNevertheless @Linsy Loving the tagged book so far but I have a feeling Spook will be great too 😊 6y
batsy I've got my eye on the beautiful tagged book 😍 I've read The Fever by Sonia Shah and it read like gripping fiction 👍🏽 6y
JessNevertheless @batsy Ohh that sounds great! I‘ll definitely add it to my list too! 6y
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Kristy_K
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Pickpick

Whether or not you‘ve read or liked Frankenstein, this is an extremely interesting book about Mary Shelley, her life, and the science of her time. I enjoyed the detail Harkup went into and how she was able to make it so informative while keeping it interesting.

I own Harkup‘s other novel (A is for Arsenic) and it will be moving up on my tbr after reading this.

#netgalley #science #biography #frakenstein

Cinfhen @LeahBergen @batsy pretty sure you were both talking about this new book.... 6y
batsy Yes, thanks @Cinfhen ! Great review @Kristy_K I'm itching to get my hands on this 😊 6y
Cinfhen Are u on #NetGalley @batsy ?!? Might be time to sign up... 6y
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batsy I am @Cinfhen but might be time to delete, I've got ARCs from two years ago 😳😳 6y
Cinfhen Hahaha @batsy that‘s a big #NetGalley nono 6y
LeahBergen @Cinfhen We were! 👍🏻 6y
Cinfhen Love the hashtag @batsy ❤️ 6y
78 likes4 stack adds8 comments
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Pruzy
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About 4 hours (37%) into Making The Monster about Mary Shelley‘s writing of Frankenstein and the historical scientific backdrop in which she was writing.

Reading this as an ebook with the Kobo app, it is sobering to see that my average reading session is 8.1 minutes before I otherwise move around, even if it is just to get more coffee.

#wheresthefocus

DGRachel That‘s a fascinating stat. I wish any of my reading apps tracked that! 6y
Pruzy @DGRachel Definitely eye-opening! I would have guessed closer to an hour or at least 30 minutes + (edited) 6y
RadicalReader @Pruzy coffee is wonderful when it comes to a reading beverage and companion 6y
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Pruzy
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I‘m really enjoying this history of Mary Shelley‘s writing of Frankenstein. I‘m still waiting to get deep into the “science behind” the novel, but I‘m betting it‘ll be just as good as the first bit of this book!

LeahBergen I already have this stacked. It sounds so good! 6y
Pruzy @LeahBergen Awesome! I wish I had a physical copy if this! 6y
batsy Oooh, I have my eye on this! 6y
Pruzy @batsy Nice! 6y
70 likes4 stack adds4 comments
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kendrastephaniekaryn
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I've been in a serious state of book hangover since finishing The Goldfinch! Hopefully this very-anticipated ARC gets me back into the spirit.

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BrainyHeroine
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Thank you @EmilyChristine !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to get to know my favorite monster even further.

TheKidUpstairs Oooohh, that sounds interesting! 6y
EmilyChristine Yay! Let me know how it is. It looked interesting. 6y
BrainyHeroine @EmilyChristine I totally will. I'm so excited to read it. 6y
43 likes2 stack adds4 comments