Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkeys Head, the Popes Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul by Brandy Schillace

Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkeys Head, the Popes Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul Reviews

• 
  Sara

  Overall, Schillace writes a fascinating profile of Dr. Robert White's pursuit of cephalic transplant.
  
  I had heard passing mention of this creepy, Frankenstein-esque pursuit, I believe through Sam Kean's books or Nerd Nite talks. But I have never read the story of the man behind the idea.
  
  White is an interesting pioneer in brain science and brain surgery. He's dogged in his search for the truth at the expense of reason and willingly mutilated many animals, but had a soft side of humanity and humanity alone. He genuinely felt that his work was for the greater good, but had he been successful in carrying out his dream, it probably wouldn't have been the triumph he hoped for.
  
  I did feel that the author was perhaps more doting and admiring of White's work than it perhaps she should be. While she does delve into the animal ethics and the anti-vivisectionist movement of the 80s, she seemed to largely dismiss the valid ethical concerns of the movement. There's absolutely no getting around the fact that the monkey head transplant is beyond grisly. And White's adherence to religion and unrealistic view of the 'soul' as being uniquely human allowed him to coldly inflict quite a brutal experiment on the monkeys, who undoubtedly did suffer in his hands.
  
  I found the end of the book on current research to help the paralyzed and quadriplegics fascinating. It does seem that White was on the cusp of successful cephalic transplant, but never got to see his work through. Should it be done? My thought is no. The men who volunteered for the transplants both had fulfilling lives, albeit shorter than they wanted. But this is my opinion, your take on the bioethics of this experiment is yours to make.
  
  Although Robert's quest was most likely done for genuinely good reasons, I found the descriptions of the head transplants on dogs and monkeys rather horrific and gruesome. So I cannot muster the admiration of the man despite his contributions to science. Still, it is an interesting read for fans of neuroscience and who can stomach the explanations of the surgeries.
• 
  Scott Pearson

  The surgery of organ transplantation has taken off in the past fifty years. However, the ability to apply these gains to the nervous system has lagged behind due to the limitations of nerve regeneration. As told in this book, during this time, Robert White, MD/PhD, sought to pioneer head transplantation onto a new body. He was successful in transplanting a monkey’s head onto another’s body. However, he retired and died before his dream could come true.
  
  Schillance’s work seeks to tell his story and the story of this field. The tale is gripping, the character personalities are strong, and the stakes are high. This story is not well-known to the public as journalistically, it has mostly been covered in sensationalist news sources. Therefore, Schillance’s informative tale should reach interested ears.
  
  Is White a humble genius or merely a new Dr. Butcher and Dr. Frankenstein? That gripping question lies behind the historical unfolding of this work’s plot. The reader is left to make up her/his own mind. After finishing this work, I find elements of both stereotypes are true. Animals are harmed to make science advance, but noble scientific aims could save human lives. As White asks, would society rather a surgeon practice on monkeys or a human child?
  
  These relevant and pertinent questions bring us to today as the field has continued in White’s absence. Head transplantation is variously proposed still. A central limitation to White’s work was the inability to bring a paralyzed spinal cord to life. (Thus, the patient would always remain a paralytic.) However, in recent years, nerve regeneration technology has shown promise; additionally, some have developed technology that bypasses the spinal cord by sending signals directly from the brain to local nerve endings. Schillance accurately and excitedly exposits these developments.
  
  As part of the history of medicine, this work is especially relevant to historians and healthcare professionals, but it also has the chance to reach a wider general audience. Again, this story is not well-known but should be. It may enter more into society’s conversations about bioethics in coming years. Schillance casts the facts and situation well, without bias or agenda. Are we ready for the reality of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Ready or not, it may come.
• 
  Literature With A Latte

  @literaturewithalatte
  
  A biography of Dr.Robert White, the medical mind behind several lifesaving neurosurgical procedures. In his lab, he was pushing the limits of science to find a surgical technique that allows for the transplantation of the human soul, the quest for immortality.
  
  Anything related to the brain is interesting to me. I’m fascinated by it. As soon as I read the description of the book, I figured this is a topic I would love to read more about. This book not only talked about the medical knowledge and procedures related to organ transplantation, but it also delved into the moral and ethical repercussions. It poses the question: if we CAN do something, SHOULD we do it? This book addresses several ethical dilemmas: beating-heart donors, systemic racism in the medical world, predatory organ harvesting and animal experimentation. I’d recommend to those of you interested in learning more about Dr.White’s work and ethical implications.
• 
  Jim

  This was an extremely difficult book to get through. A number of times I just had to put it down. And the only reason I was reading it was because it was for a book discussion. I could not get over the cruelty of Dr. White, who, although seemingly a decent person, tortured animals-- in the name of science. Sorry to say, as I think the author is trying to make the case that the torture helped make advances in medicine. But I can't get over the horror created by a real-life Dr. Frankenstein. He was so concerned about the soul but with his inhumane and soulless behavior did not care about the cost to his own soul.
• 
  Olya

  An amazing recollection of one scientist's pursuit to find the locus of human soul - and all the useful incidental findings that underlie neurosurgery till this day on. Full of bioethical dilemmas, political undertone and the persistent spirit of human mind. One change I'd wish to see is for the modern day author such as Schillace is to properly name Ukraine, without the definitie article "the" - surely the amount of research done for this book could've suggested that, especially since the country is referred to more than several times throughout the book. Overall, highly recommend!
• 
  Steve

  I enjoyed this book. The high points of the book were the look at that era’s science in the Soviet Union, and the look at the history of transplantation, from a sociological and ethical viewpoint, not a medical one. Author Brandy Schillace also writes with a sense of humor and the book was difficult to put down. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of medicine.
  Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance reader copy of this book via Edelweiss for review purposes.
  
• 
  Socraticgadfly

  I was torn between three and four stars. The story isn't bad, but it's not fantastic.
  
  And, there's enough writing problems, both on big picture editing and on style, to drop it to three.
  
  First, the good/interesting. I had never heard of Dr. Robert White before, and did not know he was the man behind modern brain perfusion, which has made a lot of modern brain surgery possible. That probably includes cranially joined conjoined twins, not even mentioned here.
  
  Some of the ethics issues are good, including White pushing for a (Catholic) theological based version of brain death, the eventual US legal standard of brain death and more.
  
  Also interesting is the way White embraced the "Frankenstein" angle and even better, back to the ethics side, the way he willingly tangled with PETA and defended animal research surgery.
  
  That said, it's uneven as a bio outside of this.
  
  We get snippets of his wife. But, not a lot. What did she think of him, beyond the bits we're told, if available? We get tiny snippets of his kids, not enough to be worth inclusion.
  
  Then, we get a conclusion chapter, which describes the way a semi-collaborator internationally from the "old days" and some of his students are working on spinal repair surgery, along with electrodes bypassing the spine. We're told bits of what White thought about the "cyborg" angle, but not a lot, and especially not if he, in hindsight, regretted his Frankenstein ideas, and/or regarded them as unnecessary. (Exactly what the Frankenstein is, is spoiler alert.)
  
  Then there's the stylistic bits, jarring in part because Schillace is a former professor of literature.
  
  The carotid arteries are described early on as the "great pulsing veins of the neck." Besides coming off as a bit purplish, that's a horrible word picture because the carotid arteries are ARTERIES!
  
  Later, when White flies to Russia, we're told he's cruising over the ocean, which sounds like an ocean liner or cruise ship, but at "60,000 feet," which is not the normal cruising altitude for passenger jets, which is actually under 40,000 feet.
  
  Later on, we're told about a bitterly cold start to a March day in Cleveland that eventually gets in the 50s. Given that the average temp in Cleveland for the full month of March is 47 degrees, anywhere in the 50s would be balmy.
  
  To put it another way, Mary Roach, whose books are guaranteed to be moderately entertaining 3-stars, is among the blurbers. Enough said.
• 
  Mary

  The title of this book is really unfortunate. I assume that the publishers were hoping to grab readers' interest with this science fiction like title.
  
  Brandy Schillace's book is so much more than just weird science. While the focus is on Dr. White and his quest to transplant a human head, there is lots of cutting edge neuroscience packed in this books' pages. While Dr. White successfully transplanted a monkey's head, he was never able to perform this operation on a human due to ethical and financial problems. He wanted to do this operation to extend the lives of people who were paralyzed and near the end of life as the result of accompanying health problems. He planned to transplant the head on to the body of someone who was brain dead. Although the head transplant would not alleviate paralysis because the spine could not be hooked up, it could have extended the lifespan as long as rejection was kept under control.
  
  Much of the book is a biography of Dr. White and his development of perfusion (cooling down the brain and body) to stop damage to organs and systems from swelling due to injury or while in surgery. A major accomplishment that is used many times daily to save lives.
  
  Dr. White was a highly skilled neurosurgeon who saved many lives and prolonged others. Saving lives was his goal. He learned many of his techniques from practicing on monkeys. And this type of research made him the target of animals' rights groups like PETA.
  
  Deeply religious, Dr. White was a catholic, and he was on the front lines of surgery as organ transplants became possible. Ethical and religious questions about when someone was really dead and organ harvest was possible were being brought to the fore at this time. White and others argued that lack of an EEG (seen in brain death) should be the standard rather than a beating heart because medical professional can keep a heart beating with heart/lung machines long after brain function has disappeared. Dr. White met with the Pope hoping to persuade him to this view.
  
  Dr. White loved the practice of medicine and did not mind attention. People who enjoy reading about neurology and medicine would really enjoy this book.
• 
  Kevin Revolinski

  This is some crazy stuff! The story of a surgeon who actually brought us a number of life-saving discoveries/techniques throughout his distinguished career, but also had a lifelong obsession with trying to transplant the human brain. Even if you make some allowances for some animal testing in science, I think you can guess where the Dr. Butcher part of the title comes from. Some of the procedures were at once abhorrent and shocking, and yet incredible in the sense that you might think some of his "successes" had to be from science fiction, Island of Dr. Moreau sort of vivisection. There is also an abundance of information surrounding Dr. Robert's story, from the advent of organ transplant and the medical/legal definitions of death to similar work done since his death and the continual ethical debates about medicine and advancements. Fascinating and at 257 pages it doesn't run out of steam before you run out of interest. Great read!
• 
  Laura

  I initially plucked this book off the library’s new non-fiction shelf to show my senior English students how cool the library, non-fiction, and learning in general can be. Who wouldn’t want to read a book with a subtitle “A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul?” It was a hard sell, so I started reading it and gave my students updates. I got hooked. How have I never heard this story of monkey head transplants??Science fiction became fact in the 1970s in Dr. White’s lab with the ultimate goal of a human head transplant almost becoming a reality in the 90s.
  Schillace’s voice is objective and reminds me of Tara Westover’s (“Educated”) ability to discuss shocking topics with a cool syntax. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants an amazing story but also learn a thing or two.
• 
  Lizze Miller

  While tracing the history of transplant surgery, this book weaves in its historical context—the space race, civil rights, Peeta, etc.— and maintains the focal point on Dr. Robert White. He’s worth the study: a Catholic, advisor to the Pope, father to 10, neuroscientist and outstanding brain surgeon. I enjoyed this, though I wish the author wouldn’t have posed and reposed the question of when does life end quite so many times; it was a worthwhile question to ask a few times and gave the story more depth, but her musings were too frequent and did not improve the book.
• 
  Maja (puszyste.ksiazki)

  4.25
• 
  Karmi Moldovan

  This was a really fascinating book to listen to and learn about neuroscience, transplants and ethical animal testing.
• 
  Judy

  This book got more interesting to me the more I got into it. I had no idea about the gruesome experiments that have been done in the name of science. But it was a fascinating read!
• 
  Matthew Galloway

  If you are at all the kind of person who would be interested in a scientist who wants to perfect the full body transplant, this is the book for you. It's fascinating and horrifying and sometimes a little inspiring? (but mostly the first two) If there is anything science history books have taught me, it's that every time someone does an unethical thing, society remembers even if individuals don't. And this poisons acceptance of good things. So, you know, scientists, try not to be total creeps and pay attention to your various ethics boards. ;)
• 
  Rachel Rogerson

  I was disappointed! It had a promising start but got bogged down with long, repetitive descriptions of various (not for the faint of heart) description of experimental brain surgery. After the fifth transplant description, I couldn't keep going.
• 
  Teju

  An fascinating look into a piece of history that most, except the ardentest of buffs, would have no clue about, yet, one of such importance that it should be addedd to the recommended reading of every profession.
  
  The melding of story telling and fact is leagues beyond excellent. Cinematic, yet firmly rooted in fact. Engaging, but neutral to the extent one could hope to be neutral, given the polarising topic.
  
  Ms. Schillace's skill deserves hats to doffed.
• 
  Nick Anderson

  pretty good but waayy too much smack about Lenin
• 
  Chanelle

  TLDR; fanatical neuroscientist who is obsessed with Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein
  
  The title is a bit misleading. While Dr. White was the founder of the Vatican’s Commission on Bioethics, his interactions with the pope are minimal, at least within the narrative. This is essentially a biography of Dr. White’s career as a neuroscientist and his obsession with figuring out where the soul lives. I love reading about the history of science, medicine, surgery, etc and I realize that unregulated medical experiments resulted in advancements in medical technology that saves our lives now; however, what I don’t enjoy reading is extremely detailed and horrific explanations of animal medical experimentation (this one focuses on dogs and monkeys). Also, the author is obsessed with mentioning all of the “young and attractive women” that White encountered. Really, I should have counted how many times she wrote that. She also portrays White as a regular ol’ family man with an innocent side hobby of figuring out how to transplant a human head. Writing is not that great.
  
  It was compelling enough for me to finish, but I mainly enjoyed the Cold War politics.
• 
  Mike

  Head transplants? Yes please! An expertly told story from the intersection of science, medicine, philosophy, and theology. (And it’s more than just head transplants, of course. As if that wasn’t enough to draw me in.) Schillace has a scientist’s grasp of the anatomical and physiological aspects, a journalist’s eye for significant detail, a historian’s sense of the larger social context, and a novelist’s flair for building a compelling narrative. And, of course, a taste for the macabre. Schillace’s talents and her subject come together perfectly here. Highly recommended.
• 
  Bruce Brian

  The book is more of an extended news article than story. The subject is interesting but it’s never fully developed into a engrossing story.
• 
  Johnny

  It was the subtitle of Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul that pulled me in. I didn’t know the pope had a neuroscientist and, outside of Norman Spinrad’s science-fiction novella, Deus X, I never thought of anyone in the Vatican being interested in the transplanting of intelligence. Then, when I glanced at the introduction and discovered that this was a non-fiction book inspired by the author being given access to a blood-stained diary of transplant experiments, I was hooked. The hook was set deeper when I began to read the Cold War context in which the story begins—weird science experiments like the Soviet two-headed dogs and both sides’ experiments in telepathy, what some called the “inner space” race. Because the author, Brandy Schillace, is a medical historian, she is able to take the reader procedurally through some of the most complex surgical efforts and experiments ever undertaken. I can’t think of being gripped more by scenes in novels designed to be thrillers than I was in the scenes which took place in the surgical theaters.
  
  Before Schillace gets to the bizarre monkey brain transplants that form a major portion of the events covered in the book, she touches on the most profound effect of Dr. Robert J. White’s work—the hypothermic cerebral profusion technique. Before his work had ended, this technique was used to save lives in all kinds of circumstances as surgeons could literally put injuries “on ice” via localized freezing (p. 52). She takes us behind the Iron Curtain as White is horrified to discover the conditions where, in one case, he was proudly shown an early Apple computer as a lab’s most precious possession. He couldn’t comprehend how they could have accomplished so much with such inferior equipment (p. 100). Yet, his engagement with the Soviets encouraged him to keep going with his experiments and he was able to perform some incredible surgeries surrounding the human brain that were never thought possible (where the patient had been written off as hopeless).
  
  Of necessity, much of the book deals with the antivivisectionists, “animal rights” activists, and PETA. The problems begin with an absolutely horrible journalist named Oriana Fallaci who turned a potentially valuable account of life-saving techniques into a diatribe based on her personal prejudices. Her theory, taking the idea of journalist as “opposition” WAY too far, was “…the truth is always the opposite of what people say.” (p. 113) Those are her own words and, of course, her approach is disingenuous because people DO sometimes say the truth. As a former magazine writer and publisher, I was aghast at this cynical and manipulative approach (and not just because of this one article). Nonetheless, the article spread through so-called “animal rights” activists and, despite significant evidence to the contrary in terms of people whose lives had been saved by techniques first introduced by Dr. White, it became “gospel” to these crusaders that there was no value in his experiments. Despite some bold debates where Dr. White not only brought evidence but introduced people who had been saved as a direct result of his experiments with monkeys, the PETA folks have largely won and science continues with its hands tied behind its back. That last sentence is my wording, but if you read the accounts of the debates and White’s words as published (and quoted from his personal journals), I don’t think you’ll find my bias too overstated.
  
  Eventually, in a New York Times interview, the journalist tried to pin White down on the identification of the soul with the brain. The interviewer asked if it were possible to weigh the soul (p. 196). White used the analogy of not being able to see gravity but only its effects. From there, he indicated that he thought the brain was a vital connection between the soul and the physical. Pressed as to how much of the brain would be needed to “retain” the soul, he suggested privately that the soul was connected to part of the cell’s genetic strand in the zygote, but only to the segment of the strand that builds the DNA for the brain (p. 197). That’s pretty bold thinking but certainly not a thesis that can be proven given current medical technology. It certainly was fertile ground for theology and explains his private audience with the pope, as well as his invitation to serve on John Paul II’s Vatican Council on Bioethics.
  
  Mr Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul is not only a fantastic narrative of historical realities that I was only peripherally cognizant of, but it is ample fodder for thought that should be read particularly by those who think animal rights trump human rights.
  
• 
  Matt Cannon

  This book about Dr. Robert J. White is about the early days of organ transplants, taboo and accepted medicine/medical practices. For example, organ transplants which were experimental at best and borderline Dr. Frankenstein at worst. It’s fascinating how much we’ve advanced medically! In as recent as the 1950’s transplants were considered impossible as the organ would always be rejected by the immune system. Dr. White learned bacteriology, epidemiology and more. He used the GI bill to attend college. He got a degree in chemistry. In 1951 he attended medical school. Barely a year in, he was called into the Dean’s office. “You don’t belong here.” the Dean said. White braced for bad news. The Dean said you belong in Harvard. He went to Harvard and became a prominent surgeon, and neuroscientist. Dr. White was on the front lines of those pushing the limits of what was possible. During the Cold War, USA and Russia (Soviet Union) were competing for dominance in all arenas. With the success of atomic weapons and the development of science, things were moving forward to a place where it could get dangerous. There was a video from Russia that leaked and involved some unusual surgery experiences over there. Vladimir Petrovich Demikhov had created a dog with two heads. Rocket science was also emerging and satellites were being flown into space by both nations. USA which had seemed untouchable, yet lost status overnight on October 4, 1957 when Russians launched Sputnik. Where another country demonstrated technological superiority. Vladimir Demikhov had an interesting procedure to attach the dogs together. He used the anecdote that two heads are better than one. Dr. White had the idea to do a brain transplant and started his life’s work, which he ultimately didn’t accomplish the way he wanted to. He developed The White Principle which was using the classification of brain dead vs lack of hear beat to have a human considered dead. He did surgery on monkeys and was targeted by animal rights groups. He was a very controversial doctor. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and some of his techniques and advancements are still being used in medicine and science today. The book was interesting. There’s a lot of history here and advances in science. There were also some points about the future of medicine and science. There are some interesting advances that find their roots in Dr. White. This book isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed learning about some of the people covered in the book and found the history interesting.
• 
  Karen Carlson

  I’m of two minds about this book (Ms. Thoughtful Reader and Madame Ranting Critic, if you will). I enjoyed it greatly; I’ve had a lot of trouble finding medical nonfiction aimed at the general reader over the past couple of decades, and this was full of technical details at just the right level. And, wonder of wonders, it was written with great narrative drive; I really had to finish many sections, though I had other things to do and other places to be. So it was a very good book.
  
  Because it’s a good book, I’m quite disappointed in what seems to me to be an attempt to jack it up with the title’s reference to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as well as the overhyped subtitle: “A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul.” These elements evoke an image of a staid doctor by day who goes rogue in his basement at night on some semi-psychotic pseudo-religious quest. That is not at all the case. According to the text, Dr. Robert White was a talented surgeon in good standing all his life, a devout Catholic who was invited to an audience with the Holy Father after a neuroscience conference on transplants, and conducted all of his research in a university hospital under laws and norms of the time. There’s no secret here, no hidden cabal with twisted motives. In spite of the frequent references to Dr. Frankenstein, often by Dr. White himself, there is simply a surgeon hoping that transplanting a brain – or, more accurately, transplanting a healthy body to a patient’s head when the body is failing – would save lives.
  
  FMI see my blog
  post at A Just Recompense.
• 
  Linda Bond

  I have always found the topic of the soul (humans only?) and scientific exploration to be gravitationally compelling… enough to suck me into any good book. And this IS a good book. However, I must admit I had to skip over bits (cruelty to animals) and swallow my possible spiritual pride to take this in. This is a nonfictional look at the life and work of Dr. Robert White, who had connections to the Vatican and two popes. Publically, he developed many life-saving techniques in neurosurgery. In the dark of his lab, however, he stepped over a few ethical lines in trying to discover a way to transplant the soul of a dead person into another body so that the deceased could continue to live. Whew! While I don’t blame him for wanting an answer, I am not happy with his methods. But then this is not a story about me... it’s about him. Well-written, thoroughly researched, it is a work worthy of any medical practitioner’s library… or maybe yours.
  
  I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA