Recommended transhumanism reading list

As the title suggests, there are all works that together represent the modern state of posthumanist and transhumanist academic philosophy.

• Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto
  As the title suggests, this is pretty much the flagship pro-transhumanism pro-enhancement manifesto. It's not the most rigorous assessment of the ethical implications, and readers should know it's written in a very polemic style directly attacking a collection of "bio-Luddite" beliefs. Unlike some of the other books in this reading list, it's very accessibly written and very clear and concise on its thesis: the future is coming, and it's a good thing.
• Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond To The Redesigned Human Of The Future
  In contrast to Postrel (below), Hughes discusses a more modern, liberal democratic socialist transhumanism. He argues (relatively convincingly) that a truly posthuman future requires careful consideration and central policy planning. Recommended reading if only because he does a great job and analyzing the various themes that run through modern transhumanist academia.
• Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human
  Garreau discusses both the potential and the threat behind enhancement technologies. He presents all sides of the transhumanist "debate" in sections appropriately titled "Hell," "Heaven," "Prevail," and "Transcend." Again, recommended reading because it provides an exposure to the current state of posthumanism in academia, in industry, and in public perception.
• How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics,
  The Cyborg Experiments: The Extensions of the Body in the Media Age (Technologies: Studies In Culture & Theory),
  The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future
  Any of these three books, arranged in approximate order of academic weightiness, is sort of a history review of one topic extremely central to all of transhumanist philosophy: how people have come to understand themselves as separate from their bodies, and how technologies have assisted this alienation every step of the way to the present. If you're interested in this subject, go ahead and examine a few pages of each of these and select the one that appeals the most to you.

These are all books that were central to the development of modern posthumanist theory, although they are a bit dated. Most of the relevant material in these books is revisited in one or all of the books above, but that doesn't mean that they're not still valuable reads.

• The Haraway Reader
  There is absolutely no transhumanist reading list that could not include some Haraway. She's one of the central figures to the development of cyborg theory and the relationships between persons, machines, and animals. Her writing style is not for the faint of heart, and you'll catch yourself reading and rereading paragraphs. If you have the stomach for it, it's worth every sentence. This is a particular must-read for those interested in the implications of transhumanist philosophies and technologies on gender identities.
• The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
  Widely considered to be the manifesto for libertarian transhumanism. Postrel makes the case that all singificant progress comes from open-ended exploration through free enterprise.
• The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
  Again, no one would forgive me if I didn't include Kurzweil on this list. The amazing thing about this book is that it's very accessible. Kurzweil writes to be understood, not to be analyzed. It's not the most rigorous work but it still serves as a fairly good introduction to transhumanism, even if it is a bit dated.
• The Prospect of Immortality and Man into Superman: The Startling Potential of Human Evolution -- And How To Be Part of It
  Ettinger is widely considered one of the pioneers of transhumanism. Inspired by cryonics, he wrote The Prospect in 1962 and Man into Superman a decade later. Both of these works are available online for free at cryonics.org: The Prospect of Immortality and Man into Superman.

Believe it or not, there are people who think that these technologies will cause more harm than good. :-P. I admit I haven't read nearly as many of these works, but these are some of the best written and most well-defended I've come across.

• Redesigning Humans: Choosing our genes, changing our future
• Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution

Why you clicked on this link to begin with! I'll be expanding this section with suggestions, but I want to particularly emphasize works that may not be as well-known.

• Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future and Worldmakers: SF Adventures in Terraforming
  Both of these books are Dozois anthologies that bring together a lot of fiction stories from some famous (and not-so-famous) science fiction authors. The crux of the stories is that deal particularly with societies where either humans (in Supermen) or habitats (in Worldmakers) are deliberately enhanced (by the societies themselves or by alien forces). Of particular interest are numerous reactions to such conditions. Because of the various authors, you get a very creative exposure to a large variety of flavors of posthumanity.

• H+ Magazine

I'm sure I missed something. I put this together really fast for reddit, and it's growing slowly. If you have a suggestion please feel free to e-mail it to me at tcsahin (the-at-symbol-goes-here) alum (a dot) mit (another dot) edu!