Reviews for Quest for Immortality Science at the Frontiers of Aging

The average rating for Quest for Immortality Science at the Frontiers of Aging based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-22 00:00:00 Bbb Bbb Senescence simplified Dr. Andrew Weil provides a blurb on the back cover saying "This is by far the best book I've read on the science of aging." I wonder why. It is definitely NOT the best book I've read on the science of aging. Better are: Austad, Steven N. Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body's Journey Through Life. (1997); Clark, William R. A Means to an End: The Biological Basis of Aging and Death (1999); and Hayflick, Leonard. How and Why We Age (1994)--see my reviews at Amazon.com. All three of these books explain aging and the evolutionary necessity for death better than Olshansky and Carnes. I think what Andrew Weil liked about this book is the authors' endorsement of alternative medicine and their mention of Dr. Weil as "a leading proponent of this approach...emphasizing the importance of the natural healing and protective powers of the body in a way that is identical to that of evolutionary medicine." (pp. 146-147) It should be understood that while the authors endorse the principles of evolutionary medicine they do not endorse the use of many popular food supplements as a means of gaining longevity, including some advocated by Dr. Weil. Of course, Weil advocates their use for "optimum health" not as a means to anything like immortality. See his engaging best-seller, Eating Well for Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Food, Diet, and Nutrition (2000). What this book has going for it is a clear statement of the demographic facts about aging and death, and some good arguments explaining why the facts are as they are and not as we would like them to be. In particular, we are warned about the "Prolongevists" who make unsubstantiated claims about the possibility of living very long lives or of attaining immortality. They begin with the Taoists and the alchemists, through Roger Bacon and Luigi Cornaro, to the unnamed "advocates of extreme prolongevity" who, it is implied, believe that "meditating and eating fresh fruits and vegetables" will lead to "an ageless body and timeless mind," (p. 235), and they debunk them all. In a sense, theirs is an extended argument against buying any snake oil (in bottle or book form) that promises anything beyond the actuary tables. Clearly Olshansky and Carnes see their book as a clear-eyed "answer" to authors like Deepak Chopra , the mesmerizing author of Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (1993) and many other books, who would have us believe in pollyannaish possibilities. While I agree that some kind of counter balance to the feel-good fuzziness of some New Age authors is necessary, I think that Olshansky and Carnes may have hurt their cause by not emphasizing the fact that humans need hope perhaps as much as they need factual knowledge. Furthermore, I think the authors may have aimed a little below their readership; witness the fact that the word "senescence" virtually does not appear in the book and is not in the index. Also, do they really think that their readers need to be advised (see page 35) that Tao is pronounced "Dow"? Nonetheless, this is an attractive book and an easy read. I particularly liked the chapter on antioxidants, which makes it clear that such supplements are unlikely to be of any value in fighting senescence. Also excellent is the Appendix which is a "Life Table" giving years and days of life remaining for males and females at any age from 0 to 110 along with the probability of living to the next birthday. If you're male and a year old all the way up to being 29-years-old, you have a 99.9 percent probability of living to your next birthday. If you're a female, extend that to age 41. If you're a fifty-year-old woman, you have, on average, 11,651 days of life left. --Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”

Review # 2 was written on 2020-06-03 00:00:00 Scott P Lee Disappointing book that does not deliver on the subtitle’s promise to cover “science at the frontiers of aging”. This book is very superficial. It skims the surface of scientific and technological work on aging (evolutionary reasons for sex and aging, free radicals and DNA repair mechanisms, stem cell therapy, genetic engineering) before concluding with some bland generalities that these are unlikely to amount to much. There is not a single reference or endnote in the book. Instead, much of the short book is devoted to debunking the straw man of “pro-longevists” who peddle miracle cures that will generate many extra years of life. I know there are a lot of snake oil salesmen in the health field, but I don’t need an entire book just to tell me that. Not recommended.