3D printing a human body, I have to admit that it not something that I have come across before. That is however a primary theme in the book Re-printed Matter by Peter I. M. Merrins. The book opens just a few decades into our future, at a time when 3D printing has progressed into quantum printing with anything and everything able to be printed as long as you have the correct base elements stored in the printer. When a new plague starts sweeping the globe people start looking for ways to be safe from the plague. A few people come up with a rather nifty concept. Utilize the quantum scanner and scan their bodies in a base template. Send that scan or template as a file to a secondary quantum printer and then reprint their body in a safe location. The location they have chosen, the astronaut home base on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, where there has been no sign of the plague. As they work on getting everything set up for their journey they must operate in secrecy while making sure not to accidently contract the plague while doing so in order to keep it from traveling with them through the printer to Titan.
Due to the semi-unique subject matter twining throughout this book I was incredibly fascinated. The idea of being able to re-print our own body in order to travel through an internet connection was beyond weird but at the same time rather intriguing. I can legitimately say that I don’t think that I have ever come across that particular concept before in fiction so that right there makes this particular book stand out from the crowd for me. Incorporating that concept in order to help the characters escape a plague that is trying to eradicate humanity though is even more unique. This concept isn’t introduced in order to help them travel easier or to help facilitate space travel but solely for them to have a safe way to escape the plague. However, what I really appreciated about this book is that it introduces the concept but then also introduces the philosophical conflicts that would naturally be produced by this idea. If you are essentially scanning your body into a computer and being re-printed on the other end of an internet connection is that still you. This seems to be a simple idea as the characters still retain their memories up to the time of their scans which in theory should make this a moot point as your memories are what make you, you. However, one of the characters struggles with the idea of being re-printed as he worries about what it would do to the intangible aspects of someone such as their soul. He genuinely worries that the new body would have no soul even though it would have everything else. The book deals with this concept so well as it utilizes the characters to provide the back and forth on the topic and showing the different points of view on this idea. Ultimately, it also leaves the choice and beliefs up to each individual character which shows that we may never actually know. This book does a great job of blending typical science-fiction elements with ideas that end up introducing numerous philosophical concepts such as the existence of the soul but does so in a way that makes these ideas easily relatable for the average reader. Overall, an incredibly well-written book and one that I am giving four out of five stars.
This book is a great example of the science fiction genre. If you are a reader who enjoys that genre than I would definitely suggest you consider trying this book as it was a great read. As I mentioned it also covers a lot of philosophical ideas in an easily relatable way so if you are a reader who enjoys books that discuss those kinds of ideas than this book may be for you as well. If you are neither of these than I am not sure how well this book would appeal to you. In terms of age range this book is primarily aimed at adults it seems like and I would mostly agree with that. While not necessarily explicit it does deal with a lot of potentially difficult themes such as loss, destruction of humanity, in addition to the previously mentioned philosophical ideas. Because of this it may be difficult for younger readers if they are not prepared. It was still a great book and I hope you will consider trying it. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. This book was acquired through the Netgalley review program.