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HarperCollins
July 2010
On Sale: June 22, 2010
320 pages ISBN: 0060765364 EAN: 9780060765361 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jonathan
Weiner comes a fast-paced and astonishing scientific
adventure story: has the long-sought secret of eternal youth
at last been found? In recent years, the dream of eternal youth has started to
look like more than just a dream. In the twentieth century
alone, life expectancy increased by more than thirty
years—almost as much time as humans have gained in the whole
span of human existence. Today a motley array of scientists,
researchers, and entrepreneurs believe that another, bigger
leap is at hand—that human immortality is not only possible,
but attainable in our own time. Is there genius or folly in
the dreams of these charismatic but eccentric thinkers? In Long for This World, Jonathan Weiner, a natural
storyteller and an intrepid reporter with a gift for making
cutting-edge science understandable, takes the reader on a
whirlwind intellectual quest to find out. From Berkeley to
the Bronx, from Cambridge University to Dante's tomb in
Ravenna, Weiner meets the leading intellectuals in the field
and delves into the mind-blowing science behind the latest
research. He traces the centuries-old, fascinating history
of the quest for longevity in art, science, and literature,
from Gilgamesh to Shakespeare, Doctor Faustus to "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button." And he tells the dramatic story of how aging could be
conquered once and for all, focusing on the ideas of those
who believe aging is a curable disease. Chief among them is
the extraordinary Aubrey de Grey, a garrulous Englishman who
bears more than a passing resemblance to Methuselah (at 969
years, the oldest man in the Bible) and who is perhaps
immortality's most radical and engaging true believer. A rollicking scientific adventure story in the grand manner
of Oliver Sacks, Long for This World is science writing of
the highest order and with the highest stakes. Could we live
forever? And if we could...would we want to?
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