Inventing Iron Man: The Possibility of a Human Machine Hardcover – August 25, 2011

As the title suggests, this book examines whether Iron Man could exist in the real world. As with Michio Kaku’s book “Physics of the Impossible”, answering the question involves defining the various meanings of “impossible.”

One way to parse the question is, “Is Iron Man possible today given the existing state of technology?” In and of itself, this question is of limited interest because the answer is, “no.” There’s certainly a demand, and so if Iron Man could exist given current technology, he probably would. That’s not to say it isn’t interesting to learn about what technologies are holding us back and where the cutting edge of relevant technologies lies—both of which are addressed by the book.

Still, a more interesting inquiry is, “Will Iron Man ever be reality given the physical laws that we know to govern the universe?” While more intriguing, it’s also a harder question to definitively answer. It’s impossible to foresee all the technological developments that might come along to answer the seemingly insurmountable challenges (e.g. Tony Stark’s inevitable Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).) The book deals with the critical question of what challenges would have to be overcome for Iron Man to be reality.

As Zehr suggests, the appeal of Iron Man is that he’s considered to be among superheroes for the common man. Like Batman, the sufficiently bright and diligent nerd may fantasize that, “That could be me.” You or I can’t be Superman or Wolverine, but given enough money, smarts, and training we could be Batman, or—even better—pilot the Iron Man suit. Put in this light, the book may seem like just another frivolous attempt to capitalize on the popularity of superheroes to sell books. However, there’s actually a great deal of food for thought packed in the book. Like others, I read the book because its title is “Inventing Iron Man” and not “Neuro-motor control of a self-propelled armor system” or some other suitably scholarly title.

Dr. Zehr has the bona fides to delve into this topic. He is a Professor who investigates questions of how the nervous system controls movement. That subject may not constitute the sum total of critical concerns, but it’s one of the most important challenges. For Iron Man to move the way he does in the movies and comic books, Tony Stark’s impulses to move have to be transmitted seamlessly to the servo-motors that move the suit. From dodging Col. Rhodes’ (i.e. War Machine’s) punches to ducking RPGs, Stark can’t be quick enough if he has to manually steer the device. Then, of course, there’s the issue of feedback. Any neophyte meditator who’s had his or her foot fall sound asleep will know how difficult it is to walk surefootedly when one can’t feel anything through one’s foot.

[“Iron Man 3” movie spoiler commentary in this paragraph.] One of the most damning challenges for making Iron Man a reality is the high probability of severe concussions. Let’s say you make the suit out of a material that is virtually indestructible? This may be possible. However, the pilot’s mushy brain is still sloshing around inside that impenetrable armor. One can remotely pilot the suit in order to negate this (as has been done in the comic books and the third movie), but—at that point—is it still Iron Man? I know from a writer’s perspective it’s a lot harder to maintain tension if there’s nothing human on the line. In the third movie about 30 autonomously piloted suits get wiped out and the viewer doesn’t care—the only source of tension is that Tony Stark is without armor half the time.

Some of the most interesting discussions are about where the current state of the art lies with respect to: a.) direct mind control over mechanical systems; b.) a “flying suit”; and c.) robotic movement enhancers. Zehr conducts interviews with those engineers and technologists involved in such technologies, and finds out where we are presently. Letter “a” above seems to be the least developed of the three technologies, but they are all active lines of research.

I enjoyed this book and found it interesting. I think anyone who is interested in the state of technology and its limits will find it a nice pop-sci introduction to the subject. The use of superheroes as a pedagogic device may be overdone, but it continues to work because we are fascinated by the edge of possibility, and that’s what superheroes represent.

Building one myself in gargage

Wish I had the money and time to build a suit!

We have actually purchased several copies of this book, not so much for content, but for the idea of it. Our engineering friends have definitely enjoyed it.

an intriguing, well written book. i've only read the first 2 chapters, but I don't see it slowing down. This is my first e-book and i love the ease of download and it is easy to read on my ipad.

After I ordered "Inventing Iron Man" through Vine Voice I immediately regretted it. I have such a queue of books right now that I had vowed not to select another book for review but in my haste I snatched it up and now was beholden to review it. Luckily it's a very breezy 180 pages that can be plowed through in no time at all and was actually entertaining throughout. Don't be put off by its laughably bad cover which features a sorry Iron Man rip-off emerging through a punched hole. The book delves into a scientific analysis of the feasibility of an Iron Man suit by a professor of neuroscience and kinesiology.

There are a ton of issues that would never occur to the average Iron Man reader or film watcher concerning the possibility of an Iron Man suit. For instance when Tony Stark moves his limbs how much of the work is being done by the suit and how much is being done by his own muscles. If Stark is forced to do much of the work his body will quickly fatigue but if the suit is doing most or possibly all Tony Stark's muscles will quickly atrophy after extended use much like an astronaut's body after periods in zero gravity. This is also an issue with regards to the way his brain is literally hooked up to the Iron Man suit to control things like flight and weapons. Even "hooking" your brain up to the suit brings a myriad of issues not the least of which are the fact that the human body naturally rejects foreign intrusions and simply adding a port to your head is unlikely to work long term.

There are some areas that I'm not sure why the author delved into particularly given the paucity of the book. He discusses the effects of alcoholism on Tony Stark's usage of the Iron Man suit and even suggests a modified origin story. I thought that the book was about the general feasibility of an Iron Man suit not whether Tony Stark, the character, could use one. The real world issues such as power storage, length of training for using the suit (think close to a decade), controlling various functionalities like the repulsor rays which are not natural to a human brain and Tony Stark would essentially have to have achieved at least a dozen or more monumental scientific breakthroughs in his development of the suit. Not to mention that fact that it seems specifically designed to maximize concussions on the pilot and you have a piece of equipment that's likely to have a very short window of usage for Tony Stark.

I really did enjoy this book a lot more than I expected. I felt as if the author had glossed over concussions until he delved into it far deeper in the final chapter. In the end it felt like Zehr did a very complete analysis of the feasibility of a practical Iron Man suit. I enjoyed it enough that I would consider picking up his other book `Becoming Batman'. If you're a fan of Iron Man (and I'm not really much into the character) you'll really enjoy how much he relates his analysis with actual stories from the comics and events in the films. All and all I would recommend this to comic fans and fans of science and physics in general.