April 12, 2013

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Neuroscience in Fiction: Fat Farm

By Susana Martinez-Conde

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Ed. note: This post originally appeared on http://sleightsofmind.com/blog.

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“The law says that there is only one possible Barth in all the world. And you aren’t it. You’re just a number. And a letter. The letter H.”

― OrsonScottCard, Fat Farm

This week’s Neuroscience in Fiction pick is FatFarm, by bestselling author of the EnderverseOrsonScottCard.

Martin Barth is a man with an insatiable appetite and a serious yo-yoing weight problem. Technology and wealth have helped him before, but in the end he must face the unforeseen consequences of his relentless pursuit of pleasure, youth and an ideal BMI.

Orson Scott Card said that he wrote Fat Farm in frustration with his own struggles with weight gain and loss. The story is part of the collection Maps in a Mirror, and a comic book version appears in Orson Scott Card’s InterGalacticMedicineShow.

Fat Farm touches upon multiple neuroscience themes, including the nature of self, consciousness, and perhaps most intriguingly, habit formation and maintenance.

For extra credit, check out our FatTuesday posts, where we discuss the neuroscience and psychology of hunger, satiety, weight gain and weight loss.

 

Susana Martinez-Conde is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is author of the Prisma Prize–winning Sleights of Mind, along with Stephen Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee, and of Champions of Illusion, along with Stephen Macknik.

More by Susana Martinez-Conde

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