Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream

by Carl Elliott, Peter D. Kramer

An examination of "enhancement technologies" in America considers the pervasiveness of self-improvement drugs and procedures in spite of society's general unease about their use.

Genres: Medicine, Nonfiction, Health, Science, Psychology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Carl Elliott is a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. Trained in medicine as well as philosophy, Elliott is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award, the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the Library of Congress, a resident fellowship at the Rockefeller Center in Bellagio, and the Weatherhead Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, Mother Jones and The American Scholar. He has been a visiting faculty member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the University of Sydney, and the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he is an affiliate of the Bioethics Centre.

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Caveat: I read this in a philosophy of technology class and so I'm measuring it against higher standards than if I had simply read this in a pop-sci context. Spoiler alert: I didn't like it.)

This book diagnoses America with a particular American experience: that of the white, middle- or upper-class privileged person. It is written extensively from that experience, and even when it talks about issues of social justice (or injustice) such as the experience of transgender individuals or racism, Elliott, quite frankly, clearly has no idea what he's talking about. The book lacks a critical frame and instead floats from anecdote to anecdote, and furthermore provides few details of the experiences of the individuals who are choosing whatever technology Elliott has decided counts as an enhancement technology in this chapter - people with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are painted as dupes and suckers, victimized by Big Pharma, without any first-hand accounts of the serious damage done by these illnesses. Similarly, Elliott discusses the main issue facing transgender people as being surgeries to assist in transitioning, and not increased suicide rates, increased rates of domestic violence and abuse, or increased murder rates.

For a book that portrays itself as an all-encompassing diagnosis, I find these omissions to be a failing. This is a diagnosis not only without treatment, but without empathy for the diagnosed; it reads more as an accusation. There is no discussion of ethics or morals, only judgment.

I got very little from this book and I would not recommend it.

[Chico the Philosurfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get it here: http://amzn.to/2qilDlM
Medical technology creates all kinds of fascinating questions, one of which is, “Where, if at all, should we stop?” What’s the difference between giving an amputee a prosthetic and making a cyborg? If I can genetically modify my fetus so it won’t have Down Syndrome, why can’t I also modify it so it is beautiful? Or, white? In this book, Carl Elliott proffers a possible criterion: we should draw a line at making people “well.” Once they wish to be “better than well,” we should stop.

I found this to be an excellent book for considering limits, but it is at least worth the read for its examples. My favorite: there are people that are so convinced they are actually Civil War amputees they have cut off their own limbs without anesthetic. They went to doctors, but all doctors refused to perform the amputation because the limbs were healthy. If you were the doctor, what would you have done?

[Henry 磊磊 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

I came across Elliott from some banger quotes in Strangers to Ourselves. I was impressed by the level of sociological insight he had having been trained more in medicine and philosophy (bioethics). The examples he uses were thought-provoking -- for example, he opens with voice and accent reduction from Southerners in the U.S. as a "technological enhancement," which he continues to explore throughout the book.

While I appreciated his use of fiction as reflections of society at a point and time, I wasn't impressed by his choices, besides Seconds. This might just be a generational issue. I'm also surprised he didn't cite White Noise by Don Delilo since in that prophetic novel, there's literally a pill prescribed for fear of dying.

[Lynne]

Not rating it because I didn't finish it. Sounded interesting from the description, but it was too technical for my taste - not hard to understand, just way too repetitive and ultimately the subject matter didn't hold my attention like I thought it would. However, psychologists/psychotherapists might find it interesting.

[Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a long, long time Big Pharma has been setting the world population up of this pandemic and their solution for it. This book explains how we got here, how we came to expect the medical industry to totally take care of us, not just our needs but also our wants/desires.
So damned sad.

[IA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written, thought provoking cultural analysis of the increased utilization of enhancement technology in the United States.

[Karl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read Carl Elliott's book. It's like reading Charlie Brown's Teacher Speaking
"wah wah".

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best American cultural commentaries that I have read. It is required reading for my bioethics program, but I have been wanting to read this book for a while. It discusses enhancement technologies, but from a philosophical, cultural, and historical context. Instead of the surface assessment of "people want to project an image" Better Than Well delves deep into how Americans think as they do and value what they value.
This book is not distinctly Christian, yet reading it gave me an understanding of just how much we deceive ourselves and that no one is immune to his/her particular cultural influences. Without saying so, from a Christian worldview, this book is about the idols that captivate every one of us, and how over time we've all come to embrace them.

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bioethicist talks about "enhancement technologies," which apparently boils down to popular psychopharmacology with occasional side trips into artificial voices and body modification. Profoundly rambley and not what I was expecting, but enjoyable enough in an eclectic sort of way. Still, he didn't say anything about drugs I hadn't heard before, he just had more interesting stories about urban planning and the history of fugue states and *hand gestures* I don't even know what.

[Geoffrey Rhodes]

A great, easy read. He compares the subject of psycho-pharmaceuticals to the practice of makeover and "passing", and wraps it up with an even handed look (coming from a medical ethicist) at the American cult of individual 'personality'.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

THis is a really solid book.... it does get a little long, though. I think the author makes good kind of philosophical points: what are we treating/defining as disease now compared to before?
I would recommend this.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but Dr. Elliot has difficulty sticking to the thesis -- the book feels like it is wandering, and overstuffed. I ended up feeling like only the first two chapters actually discussed enhancement technologies at all.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

uneven. at its best an insightful and cleverly argued set of essays. at its worst, a disorganized set of poorly researched and poorly defended points that don't cohere into a whole.

for lengthy periods, elliott discusses topics of unclear connection to either the theme of his chapter or his book.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into why we are constantly in a search for being better, prettier, smarter, etc. Makes comparisons with studies in other cultures to show that things may not have to be this way. It's an easy read with some "aha" moments sprinkled throughout the book.

[Tracey]

NOT AT LIB 11/07 - Recommended by Ginnie

['stina]

From David