Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, & Creators of All Kinds

Genspace is proud to welcome David Guston, editor of the newly published Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds for a book signing event.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has endured in the popular imagination for two hundred years. 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, 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.

About David H. Guston:

David H. Guston is professor and founding director of the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at ASU, where he is also co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes. He is Principal Investigator and Director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society, a National Science Foundation-funded Nano-scale Science and Engineering Center dedicated to studying the societal aspects of nanoscale science and engineering research and improving the societal outcomes of nanotechnologies through enhancing the societal capacity to understand and make informed choices. Professor Guston is widely published and cited on research and development policy, technology assessment, public participation in science and technology, and the politics of science policy.