Unnatural

Philip Ball presents the ethical dilemmas, ancient and modern, with intelligence and assurance

The Times

A brave, sane and intellectually nimble account of a topic which only gets more ambiguous with each scientific advance. Unnatural is fascinating and engaging, and a polemic only for cool heads and open hearts when dealing with issues of such serious and profound complexity

Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

Fascinating book

Jonathan Ree, Evening Standard

Unnatural is a beautifully written, deeply intelligent book that will force every reader to rethink at least some of their preconceptions

Jim Endersby, Sunday Telegraph

Ball's thoughtful book is a reminder that as we try and deal with how to enable and assist people into being, we need to understand and then conquer our fears surrounding the very idea of making people.

Manjit Kumar, Guardian

Meticulous, witty and sometimes provocative

Patrick Skene Catling, Sunday Times

Ball's assiduously science-literature approach is very welcome

Roy Wilkinson, The Word

The two cultures of science and art are not antagonists, divergent in their aims and mutually unintelligible: they happily cohabit inside Ball's compendious, eclectic head.

Peter Conrad, Observer

Labelling Ball a science writer sells his writing short, for its value lies above all in a range that dissolves the awkward silences between science and the larger culture of which it is part.

Marek Kohn, Independent

Fascinating

Jonathan Ree, Scotsman

If Ball's book is an entertaining romp across centuries and genres, it also has a target...What Ball does so effectively...is to show why language and stories matter- in effect, why humanities matter

Michele Pridmore-Brown, Times Literary Supplement

The most polymathic science writer of our time

Peter Forbes, Independent, Books of the Year