Becoming Animals by Olga Werby

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Three books that influenced you

I read everything…well, not histories or biographies or horror. I usual discover an author I like, and then read everything they’ve ever written! It is so much easier to know that the book will be good than to be disappointed. I know this sounds crazy. But I read a lot. I have thousands of books at home. I have books shelves in my bathrooms, bedrooms, hallways, kitchen, living room… I have books stocked on most flat surfaces and up the stairs. I’m not allowed to buy physical books anymore…unless I really want to. I do most of my “fun” reading on my phone now—Kindle App. I have thousands of books on my phone as well. The good thing about that is that the phone is always in my pocket (I no longer buy clothes that don’t have pockets to accommodate my cell phone.). I can whip out a book while I wait in line, while I sit in a doctor’s office, while I exercise… It’s a perfect delivery mechanism for reading.

As for which three books that influenced me…that’s a complicated question. The list changes based of what’s going on in my life. When I wrote “Becoming Animals”, I read about animal cognition. In fact, my book comes with a bibliography – there are always people who are as passionate about the science that I describe in my book as I am. I want to give them a chance to explore the topic at a deeper level. For instance, Robert Sapolsky’s 2002 “A Primate’s Memoir: A Neuroscientist’s Unconventional Life Among the Baboons” was an amazing book that had me in tears for pages and pages. Not only was this book full of amazing science, but the humanity with which it was written just broke my heart. I can’t recommend it strongly enough. Another author that I absolutely love is Dr. Oliver Sacks. Pick any book of his, just any book, you won’t be disappointed – the man was a poet…and a neuroscientist. And if you are into ravens, read Heinrich’s “Ravens in Winter” for an insight at how smart these little dinosaurs descends are.

Humans have always wanted to know what goes on inside the minds of other animals. But what if humans could become animals? Toby’s father leads a team of neuroscientists directly connecting the brains of humans with those of animals. And Toby is a prodigy at throwing her mind into the animal subjects in his lab—she’s the best there is.

But Toby suffers from cystic fibrosis and she’s not likely to live into adulthood. Could a radical plan to embed her consciousness into an animal allow Toby to survive? And what does it mean to live without a human body?

Can Toby and her father solve the problem of fully merging two beings before she takes her last breath? Will the government succeed in stopping their efforts before they are done? It’s a race against death and into the minds of animals.

Read an Excerpt

After the major had left, Toby came into Will’s office and slipped onto his lap.

“I’d like to go to work in the lab with you and Ruffy,” she said.

“You heard?” Will asked, gently rubbing the girl’s back.

“School is boring,” Toby said. “And I like playing with Rufus,” she added. She was convincing herself as much as him, Will noted.

Toby didn’t say she’d miss playing with the other kids. Friendships needed plenty of time and some freedom. She was so restricted with her interactions and she missed so much school, she hadn’t gotten to make friends. Will felt the weight of responsibility. Could he keep his little girl happy? Was this the right thing for her?

“You’ll get a lot of time to play with Rufus,” he said. “But maybe you’ll get bored hanging around with us and all those lab rats.”

“There’s just Ruffy, Dad!”

“There will be more soon. Now that we had a breakthrough, I’m sure we’ll get more animals, more different kinds of animals. But we’ll take it slow. I’ll make sure no one pushes you to do things you don’t want to do. I promise.”

“Don’t worry, Dad,” Toby said. “I loved being Ruffy.”

Will hugged his daughter and he felt how fast her heart was beating. Almost as fast as Ruffy’s.

Read the first few chapters here: https://interfaces.com/blog/becoming-animals/

About the Author:

Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master's degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, "Suddenly Paris," which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, "The FATOFF Conspiracy," was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories -- homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals -- the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of "Alien Dimensions Magazine," "600 second saga," "Graveyard Girls," "Kyanite Press' Fables and Fairy Tales," "The Carmen Online Theater Group's Chronicles of Terror," with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.

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Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078P6BB6K/

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