We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds

by Sally Adee

Overview

Science journalist Sally Adee breaks open the field of bioelectricity—the electric currents that run through our bodies and every living thing—its misunderstood history, and why new discoveries will lead to new ways around antibiotic resistance, cleared arteries, and new ways to combat cancer.

You may be familiar with the idea of our body's biome: the bacterial fauna that populate our gut and can so profoundly affect our health. In We Are Electric we cross into new scientific understanding: discovering your body's electrome.

Every cell in our bodies—bones, skin, nerves, muscle—has a voltage, like a tiny battery. It is the reason our brain can send signals to the rest of our body, how we develop in the womb, and why our body knows to heal itself from injury. When bioelectricity goes awry, illness, deformity, and cancer can result. But if we can control or correct this bioelectricity, the implications for our health are remarkable: an undo switch for cancer that could flip malignant cells back into healthy ones; the ability to regenerate cells, organs, even limbs; to slow aging and so much more. The next scientific frontier might be decrypting the bioelectric code, much the way we did the genetic code.

Yet the field is still emerging from two centuries of skepticism and entanglement with medical quackery, all stemming from an 18th-century scientific war about the nature of electricity between Luigi Galvani (father of bioelectricity, famous for shocking frogs) and Alessandro Volta (inventor of the battery).

In We Are Electric, award-winning science writer Sally Adee takes readers through the thrilling history of bioelectricity and into the future: from the Victorian medical charlatans claiming to use electricity to cure everything from paralysis to diarrhea, to the advances helped along by the giant axons of squids, and finally to the brain implants and electric drugs that await us—and the moral implications therein. 

The bioelectric revolution starts here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306826627
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	02/28/2023
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	142,357
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Sally Adee is a science and technology writer. Most recently, she was a features editor at New Scientist, where she wrote some of its most lasting content, including a 2012 feature that broke the bioelectricity technology to the general public and is cited in Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus. Adee's writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Economist, BBC Future, and Quartz. She has spoken on the Economist's Intelligence podcast, NPR’s Radiolab, Canadian Broadcasting's The Current, and BBC Breakfast. She is the science consultant for the TV adaptation of Naomi Alderman's The Power (Amazon Studios) and has won a US National Press Club award, a BT Information Security Award, and the Guild of Health Writers Award for her inside account of Silicon Valley's young blood clinics. Adee is a citizen of Germany and the US, and lives in London.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/07/2022

Journalist Adee debuts with a revelatory survey of bioelectricity, the electrical currents that enable “perception, motion, and cognition.” Such currents, Adee writes, are “what makes gummy bears taste sour, why we can pick up a glass of water to wash away the taste, and how we know we were thirsty in the first place.” Though scientists have long known that the brain and the nervous system communicate via bioelectrical signals, in recent decades, discoveries have made it clear that every cell makes use of them: electrical prompts in utero helps embryos develop properly, for example, and research is being done on preventing birth defects by “re-tuning our electrics.” As well, biolectricity has had a “contentious” history, Adee shows, in part because its study has been “scattered across a wide range of disciplines, many of which think the others are peddling poppycock.” She masterfully shows the implications of new discoveries and spotlights where the science doesn’t add up (there’s controversy surrounding whether transcranial direct current stimulation could help with depression or PTSD, for example). With lucid explanations and fascinating anecdotes, Adee is the perfect guide to this hidden realm. Pop science fans, take note. Agent: Carrie Plitt, Felicity Bryan Assoc. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2022-11-08
A science writer explores bioelectricity and the developments of exciting new electrical treatments.

While the idea that our minds and bodies are powered by electricity is well known, Adee shows how recent cutting-edge research suggests remarkable possibilities. Devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators are commonplace, but scientists are now having success using electrical impulses to treat rheumatoid arthritis and even spinal damage and paralysis. There is evidence that small, controlled jolts of electricity delivered from outside the skull can temporarily improve mental clarity and physical performance. When Adee volunteered to try it, she was amazed at the results, although she acknowledges that the process is still experimental. It has been a long road so far, and the author spends the first third of the book tracing the research that established the existence of bioelectricity and how it works. In the early days, the field attracted an array of quacks, con men and pseudo-scientists, which was a hindrance to serious work. There was also the problem that medical researchers and physicists lacked a shared scientific language. Progress occurred anyway, and the structure of the nervous system was gradually uncovered. After that, the roles of electrical signals in cell division, communication, and specialization became a focus of study. All of these developments have opened important new frontiers, including possible effective treatments for cancer. Some of the current research projects that Adee discusses—e.g., using electrical diodes to implant memories—sound like they belong more in science fiction. Yet there was a time when electroencephalogram technology, now used widely in brain scanning, was dismissed as ludicrous. Adee emphasizes that much of the new research will inevitably hit dead ends, as much scientific inquiry inevitably does, and many experiment results are proving difficult to reliably replicate. Nevertheless, she provides a wealth of material to think about.

A clear, intriguing examination of a field with huge potential.

Kirkus Reviews

**One of Next Big Idea Club's Nonfiction Books to Watch Out for in 2023, one of Science News’ Favorite Science Books of 2023, one of The Telegraph's Top Fifty Books of 2023, one of Behavioral Scientist’s Notable Books of 2023**

"In her engaging debut...[Adee] traces efforts to explore—and sometimes exploit—the human "electrome," doing full justice to the complex issues surrounding the body's electric forces."—The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)

"Sally Adee manages that most difficult feat in science writing: taking a subject you didn’t know you cared about and making it genuinely fascinating and exciting. The ‘ohmigod-that’s-so-cool’ moments come thick and fast as she brings the science up to date, investigating today’s cutting edge and what the future may hold for bioelectric medicine. It’s a vast and hugely exciting area of scientific research, shared with infectious enthusiasm, a real depth of knowledge, a smart and funny turn of phrase. You’ll never think of life in the same way again."—Caroline Williams, author of Move!: The New Science of Body Over Mind

“The human body runs on an electricity we barely understand. Unlocking its secrets has the potential to usher in a new age of human health interventions that will revolutionize the way we comprehend and treat our most common maladies. In this fascinating look at this next frontier of scientific discovery, Sally Adee explores the untold history of bioelectricity and sketches its tantalizing, and promising, future.”—Jamie Metzl, author of Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity

“If you thought genetics was the secret of life, think again: in We Are Electric, Sally Adee vividly explores the magic of bioelectricity, and how it affects every aspect of our being. A joy to read—I loved this book.”—Joseph Jebelli, author of In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer's

“As Sally Adee describes with great wit and insight, we are nothing without electricity: it’s the stuff of life, and of death. This is such a thrilling, compelling and energizing book - reading it, I couldn’t help picturing the author as Zeus, chucking lightning bolts at me. Such a timely book, too. The future is - I’m sorry, I can’t help it - electrifying.”—Rowan Hooper, author of How To Save The World For Just A Trillion Dollars

“The electrome may be as important to our understanding of life as the genetic code—yet few of us are aware of these groundbreaking developments. With scintillating storytelling, Sally Adee takes us to into the heart of this scientific revolution and its potential to transform medicine. We Are Electric is science writing at its very best—it shimmers with wit and insight. Prepare to be entertained, enlightened, and yes, electrified, by this brilliant book.”—David Robson, author of The Intelligence Trap and The Expectation Effect

“This book blew my mind. We Are Electric is a thrilling read, and Sally Adee explains everything from the intricacies of our electric cells to the potential for new medical treatments—and brain-hacking—with a sparkling clarity.”—Michael Brooks, author of The Art of More: How Mathematics Created Civilization

“[In] her excellent first book, We Are Electric, about the newly discovered world of the body’s so-called electrome….Sally Adee has written an absorbing and fast-paced account of a field of research that could thus herald a whole new era of paradigm-shifting medicine. Moreover, she has done so without apparently drinking the Kool-Aid of today’s many bioelectricity boosters….Adee has performed sterling service in persuading us to contemplate the benefits and possible implications of what seems our inevitable electric future.”—Simon Winchester, The New York Times

"Fascinating stuff."—Terry Gross, "Fresh Air" (NPR)

“The research [Adee] describes is certainly remarkable, and her enthusiasm for bioelectricity’s enormous potential makes We Are Electric a lively read.”—The Wall Street Journal

"Adee wades through piles of up-to-the-minute research about the human bioelectrical system and how it can be manipulated, intentionally or not; if nothing else, it will make you marvel anew at your body as an infinitely intricate machine."—Gregory Cowles, The New York Times Book Review

"Adee entertainingly introduces the electrome, encompassing all the different roles that electricity plays in living creatures."—Financial Times (Best Summer Books of 2023)

“Adee gives an entertaining account… Adee’s enthusiasm is infectious, and she conveys well the jaw-dropping scale and complexity of this newly discovered ‘electrome.’ This ‘bioelectrical revolution’ is more than medicine.”—Times of London

"In her debut book, [Sally Adee] paints a riveting (and often humorous) picture of 200 years of research on the bioelectricity coursing through our bodies, from debates over twitching frogs’ legs to devices developed to give sensation back to people with traumatic nerve injuries."—Scientific American

“One thing readers might not expect from a book that illustrates the intricacies of ion channels: It’s surprisingly funny….energy thrums through the book, charging her storytelling like a staticky balloon. Adee is especially electrifying in a chapter about spinal nerve regeneration and why initial experiments juddered to a halt….Such implants bring many challenges — like how to marry electronics to living tissue—but Adee’s book leaves readers with a sense of excitement.”

—ScienceNews.org

“A stylish recounting of the story of bioelectricity, its dramatic history and thrilling possibilities…. Adee is a reassuring guide through this complex and controversial subject. Her technical explanations are exemplary, rendering biological processes comprehensible to those almost entirely uninitiated with the life sciences…. It is astonishing that We Are Electric is the first popular science book on this subject; it taps into the magic of science that we are only on the brink of understanding. A book which does its fascinating subject justice: elegant, exciting and expertly written.”—The Institution of Engineering and Technology, E&T Magazine

"Adee, a former technology watcher for New Scientist, has put together an admirably comprehensive and clear look at electrical life, past, present and future....Adee remains impressively surefooted while balancing all these demands....Add some enterprising personal reporting, and a slew of good stories...and the result is entirely readable."—The Arts Desk

“The author also tells us – in her often amusing, always engaging style – that it is the electrome that determines where our heart, brain or kidneys should be located….It is staggering to learn here that scientists are using algorithms to decode the electrical signals from our brain, and, thus, read our thoughts…. Our future appears electric, and this book does a great job of explaining why.”—Irish Times

"A revelatory survey of bioelectricity...[Adee] masterfully shows the implications of new discoveries and spotlights where the science doesn’t add up....With lucid explanations and fascinating anecdotes, Adee is the perfect guide to this hidden realm. Pop science fans, take note."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Adee] provides a wealth of material to think about. A clear, intriguing examination of a field with huge potential.”

—Kirkus Reviews

"In this ground-breaking book, the electrome is explained simply and easily for the first time as science and technology writer Adee investigates how biology and electricity converge in our bodies (bioelectricity) and the impact this could have on future medical breakthroughs....[We Are Electric is] a book that’ll make you fundamentally rethink what you know and appreciate about your body."—Stylist.co (UK)

"The book is packed with...fantastic stuff."—IEEE Spectrum podcast

“This wonder of a book…. The results are astonishing, as is this read on the body’s cellular bioelectricity and how microcurrents might change everything for humanity. But this is no trendy biohacker book; Sally Adee dives deep into two centuries of science and quackery, going back to a weirdly captivating feud between 18th-century physicists.”—New York Post’s Best Books of 2023

From the Publisher