Frankenstein, or, the modern Prometheus : annotated for scientists, engineers, and creators of all kinds
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references.

This new critical edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was developed by leading scholars for aspiring scientists, engineers, and medical professionals. This unique framing will make this a core text in promoting and enhancing interdisciplinary dialogue on the nature, roles, and responsibilities of scientists and engineers in society. To be published in time for the 2018 bicentennial of its original publication, this edition will be produced in print and as an enhanced e-book. The e-book will contain the full text of the novel (in the public domain) plus all of the substantial scholarly material that was commissioned and developed for this new edition, including essays by leading scholars, and will be most valuable to students and teachers of ethics. Digital features will include include reader annotation, bookmarking, and multimedia content. -- Provided by publisher.

"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. Begun as a ghost story by an intellectually and socially precocious eighteen-year-old author during a cold and rainy summer on the shores of Lake Geneva, the dramatic tale of Victor Frankenstein and his stitched-together creature can be read as the ultimate parable of scientific hubris. Victor, "the modern Prometheus," tries to do what he perhaps should have left to Nature: create life. Although the novel is most often discussed in literary-historical terms--as a seminal example of romanticism or as a groundbreaking early work of science fiction--Mary Shelley was keenly aware of contemporary scientific developments and incorporated them into her story. In our era of synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and climate engineering, this edition of Frankenstein will resonate forcefully for readers with a background or interest in science and engineering, and anyone intrigued by the fundamental questions of creativity and responsibility. This edition of Frankenstein pairs the original 1818 version of the manuscript--meticulously line-edited and amended by Charles E. Robinson, who was one of the world's preeminent authorities on the text--with annotations and essays by leading scholars exploring the social and ethical aspects of scientific creativity raised by this remarkable story. The result is a unique and accessible edition of one of the most thought-provoking and influential novels ever written."--Back cover.