Tony Stark has been battling bad guys and protecting innocent civilians
since he first donned his mechanized armor in the 1963 debut of Iron Man
in Marvel Comics. Over the years, Stark's suit has allowed him to smash
through walls, fly through the air like a human jet, control a
bewildering array of weaponry by thought alone, and perform an
uncountable number of other fantastic feats. The man who showed us all
what it would take to become Batman probes whether science--and
humankind--is up to the task of inventing a real-life Iron Man.
E. Paul Zehr physically deconstructs Iron Man to find out how we could
use modern-day technology to create a suit of armor similar to the one
Stark made. Applying scientific principles and an incredibly creative
mind to the question, Zehr looks at how Iron Man's suit allows Stark to
become a superhero. He discusses the mind-boggling and body-straining
feats Iron Man performed to defeat villains like Crimson Dynamo, Iron
Monger, and Whiplash and how such acts would play out in the real world.
Zehr finds that science is nearing the point where a suit like Iron
Man's could be made. But superherodom is not just about technology. Zehr
also discusses our own physical limitations and asks whether an
extremely well-conditioned person could use Iron Man's armor and do what
he does.
A scientifically sound look at brain-machine interfaces and the outer
limits where neuroscience and neural plasticity meet, Inventing Iron
Man is a fun comparison between comic book science fiction and modern
science. If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to be
the ultimate human-machine hero, then this book is for you.
