"An absorbing read that probes our foibles and uncertainties with gentleness, wisdom, and humor."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Elliott grips the reader's attention all the way."
--Scientific American
"An impressive achievement."
--Metapyschology
Submitted By Publisher, October, 2004
Summary
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?
Table of Contents
1. The perfect voice
2. The true self
3. The face behind the mask
4. The loneliness of the late-night television watcher
5. The identity bazaar
6. Three ways to feel homesick
7. Pilgrims and strangers
8. Resident aliens
9. Amputees by choice
10. Bringing up baby
11. Second acts
12. Conclusion: the tyranny of happiness
