Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension

Hall, a US journalist and historian of modern science, presents an overview of ageing as a biological phenomenon. In his introduction he writes, “Because we've done such a spectacular job of minimizing the agents of premature death—diseases, accidents, poor hygiene, injuries, not to mention predation, starvation, exposure—we are living so long that aging itself has only recently emerged as a subdiscipline of medicine.”

Stephen S Hall

Houghton Mifflin Company, $25, pp 448 ISBN 0 618 09524 1

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/

Rating:

He quotes the eminent US cell biologist Leonard Hayflick, “Aging is an artifact of civilization.” Hayflick is …