Immortality: How Science Is Extending Your Life Span and Changing the World
by: Ben Bova
Topics include: glucose browning, produce telomerase, lab rodents, cellular clock, extend our life spans, extending human life span, necrotic cell death, human immortality, telomeres shorten, lab mice, telomere shortening
Library Journal
"Highly recommended...It's a safe bet that he's on to something here."
Lynn Margulis, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, co-author with Dorian Sagan of What is Life? and What is Sex?
"What will be the social consequences when, thwarted by science, the grim reaper retreats? Read and be captivated, reassured, and painlessly informed."
--- Globe & Mail
"Bova has persuaded me: Death itself is mortal, and beginning to sweat."
About the Author
Ben Bova has been a presence in science fiction for more than four decades. He is a past president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the former editor of Analog. The recipient of the Hugo and other awards, he has written dozens of novels, including Mars, Voyagers, and Death Dream-as well as Moonrise and Moonwar, the firsts two books of his acclaimed Moonbase Saga. He lives in Florida with his wife, Barbara Bova.
Reviews:
It seems to me a great accomplishment that Ben Bova can maintain his conversational style while educating the public and provoking serious contemplation. Reading this book took me only 2 evenings, and it felt like having the author in my living room. I'm not a scientist. I didn't even know there was a difference between life expectancy and life span. Life expectancy has increased because of the percentage of children who now survive to adulthood thanks to medical advances. The human life span referred to in the Bible as threescore and ten (and sometimes fourscore) has really never changed. Until now, or almost now. We are on the brink of understanding cellular processes that cause what we know as "aging" to occur. The author explains in very clear terms the present theories of aging and the research efforts now underway. He also delves into all the moral quandaries involved...this was the area that prompted me to read the book. I wanted to know more about embryonic stem cell research and cloning, and why pursuing these technologies is or is not justified. I am Catholic! The author tries to be civil about religious viewpoints, but can barely manage. His viewpoints are always 100% secular and ammoral. Nevertheless, he presents the arguments of all, and makes his case is a logical manner. I do recommend this book for the nonscientist who wants to explore these issues and pick up a good deal of knowledge about how the research is being done.
A thought-provoking book
This book strikes me as wildly optimistic. Of course, I'm perfectly willing to admit I could be wrong, but I think it likely that if natural immortality can be achieved through technological progress, it is centuries away. Particularly disappointing to me were the aspects of this book that discussed the social ramifications of natural immortality. "Shall marriage endure?" seems sort of short-shorted and of very limited scope to me. I think natural immortality would change human society more than any other single innovation. More than cheap fusion energy or anything you could think of. These people would live lives so different from us as to be aliens. A very good novel could be written along the lines of this premise. Perhaps someone reading these words can recommend one to me?
Ben Bova has succeeded in gathering the most recent developments in medical science and technology together with the most credible extrapolations of current trends to write a terrific and much-needed book. He has studied the many diverse and often arcane fields of scientific investigation and somehow created a highly readable yet convincing depiction of where life extension research may lead us. He makes acceptable what used to seem unbelievable. Immortality is not a long book and does not come across as scholarly or academic. It is clearly intended for the popular reader. And yet, I believe it is one of the most important and valuable books to be written within the last 20 years. If it is widely read and discussed, it will go a long way toward persuading the public that they'd better pay attention and begin preparing for the amazing ways in which our world is about to change. NOTE: Ben Bova is not a medical doctor, but rather a Ph.D. of the liberal arts. The use of "Dr." before his name was probably his publisher's idea, intended to give the author more legitimacy on this topic. I find it disingenuous and needless. Ben Bova is a successful, respected writer of speculative fiction, and is probably as well qualified to write this book as any medical doctor.