How and Why We Age
by: Leonard Hayflick
Topics include:
From Library Journal
Hayflick (anatomy, Univ. of California Medical Sch.), a nationally recognized gerontologist with over 30 years' experience in the study of the aging process, presents a cogent response to the question of how and why we age. He not only explores the biological process of aging but also covers such topics as chronological vs. biological aging; longevity, aging, and death; normal aging vs. the myths of aging; demographics; how the human body's systems are affected by aging; theories on aging; attempts to control aging; effects of exercise, nutrition, weight, temperature, and light on longevity; and aging and longevity into the 21st century. The chapters are packed with easily digestible facts, observations, and scientific documentation. To support his statements, he uses reliable data from tested research and reputable statistical sources. This 400-page book should function as a primary resource for gerontologists, health professionals, informed lay readers, and higher education students interested in the process of aging.
Kathy Segrist, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Anatomist Hayflick has researched and lectured on the biology of aging for 30 yearsexperience made evident throughout this book by his broad factual coverage, lucidity, and occasional humor. Hayflick is as interested in exploding myths as he is in pointing out what is scientifically known and what still needs to be done. By discussing the last, he hopes to encourage young people to enter his broad and growing field, in which the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging is the major pertinent program. The primary division in knowledge about aging arises from discriminating between the effects of aging per se and those of disease. Some researchers, Hayflick shows, confound this separation by referring to abnormal aging, which does not exist. Biogerontologists must keep in mind the wide individual variability in aging, Hayflick says, commenting that if you think cancer is complicated, try to understand the aging process. A useful, well-informed treatment. William Beatty -
From Kirkus Reviews
With this book, Hayflick, a professor of biology (Univ. of California Medical School) who specializes in the study of aging, makes a valiant--and largely successful--attempt to summarize for lay readers the current research and theories in his field. Old age, as Hayflick points out, is in its infancy: Only during this century, and only in industrialized nations, have people lived long enough to grow old in large numbers. Hayflick lays out most of what is known about what happens as people age and outlines many of the theories and studies that try to explain the process. Along the way, he touches on ethical questions raised by the possibility of prolonging life and debunks the quackery that has pushed grafted monkey testicles, goat gland transplants, dried fetal cell injections, and other absurd remedies as anti-aging treatments. He also passes along such intriguing tidbits as the fact that normal cells can subdivide only 40 to 50 times before dying, but cancer cells are ``immortal'' and can replicate themselves indefinitely; that neither exercise nor antioxidants have been shown to slow the aging process; and that people who are up to 20% heavier than the ``ideal'' weight set by insurance company charts live longer than those who are underweight. Hayflick covers too much ground to linger on any one point, and that can be frustrating. He repeatedly cites the age of 115, for instance, as the maximum possible life span yet neglects to explain how he can be so sure. Despite its entertaining aphorisms and witty asides, this book is probably too dense to gain the audience its subject matter deserves. But for readers with a high tolerance for polysyllabic words and more than a passing interest in the biology of aging, it's an informative and often entertaining overview. (Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection)
Reviews:
Hayflick's book "How and Why We Age" is an excellent, first hand account on the research that has been conducted up to now on the biology of aging. It is of note that Hayflick is one of the pioneers in the field. The book is well written and can be enjoyed both by the scientist and the layperson. One flaw, in my opinion, involves Hayflick's personal- and highly biassed- account of the supposedly erroneous conclusions of Alexis Carrel regarding the immortality of cells cultured in vitro. After presenting what seems conclusive evidence opposing Carrel's claim, Hayflick describes a conversation with a technician who worked at Carrel's lab in New York in the thirties, who discloses highly questionable procedures, and describes threats to her when she reaised issues with the lab directors. It is clearly suggested that there was scientific negligence and even misconduct, and yet, the identity of this technician is not revealed, and the accusations, half a century la! ter, are foggy and impossible to challenge. This is a very serious issue, as Hayflick himself claims to have proven Carrel wrong, through his discovery of a fixed maximum number of divisions in cells grown in vitro. However, some even more recent experiments suggest that it is Hayflick who is wrong, because the cell culture conditions he uses are highly artificial, while Carrel's more primitive, but also more robust method (cultivating a chunk of tissue) are closer to physiological conditions. The issue at stakes is by no means trivial: are cells intrinsically immortal, ageless, or do they age and die like whole organisms?