Publisher’s write-up:
‘In this paradigm-shifting
book from acclaimed Harvard Medical School doctor and one of TIME magazine’s
100 most influential people on earth, Dr. David Sinclair reveals that
everything we think we know about ageing is wrong, and shares the surprising,
scientifically-proven methods that can help readers live younger, longer.
For decades, the medical
community has looked to a variety of reasons for why we age, and the consensus
is that no one dies of old age; they die of age-related diseases. That's
because ageing is not a disease – it is inevitable.
But what if everything you
think you know about ageing is wrong?
What if ageing is a disease?
And that disease is curable.’
This is a book where the
biologist for the Harvard Medical School, David A. Sinclair builds the case as
to why ageing is not a natural phenomenon but a ‘disease’. The book is
split into three parts, with a foreword from the author explaining the painful
loss of his grandmother before moving on to the technical aspects of the subject.
The first part deals with what we
know (the past) – and it is explanation of what is DNA, what are its
components, and what are the damages it incurs during the course of our existence
(and could it be fixed?). This was the most technical part of the book and
while I understood the crux of it, I do not have the technical competence to fully
understand all of it – if you have a background in the subject, you may read those
paragraphs in detail. However, I appreciate the author for placing his best
efforts to simplify – it was interesting how he wrote single paragraph science
fictions during the book to simplify what was ageing and why it was a disease.
The next part is about the
present and the research that is ongoing and in particular, his research. He discusses
some simple lifestyle changes that could be incorporated to live longer – such as
fasting. Many of it was a repetition of his assertion that ageing is a disease,
that nobody dies peacefully and that every death is very painful. I found
it interesting when he mentioned that the term ‘died of old age’ is used
so often in common parlance though that is no medical term – and people die
because of failure of some organ, which means all it needs to be done to live
longer is to address these problems.
The final part is the author
discussing the future – 80 is the current normal for a human being at
present. Though immortality is not the author’s immediate proposition, he does
assert that for millennials and the generations that follow, living up to 120
may not be rare and explains why this is scientifically possible – that there
is no natural age limit for the human body. Much as the author is
convinced of the premise, he does not ignore the economic and social problems
that this change could bring – should people spend a longer part of their life studying?
Should people have to prepare for a second career at the age of 60? What about
the impact it would create on societal progress? It was never a case in history
that a majority of people who were blocking progress – such as those opposed to
women’s rights in the 19th century, opposed to civil rights in the 20th
century, etc. suddenly changed their opinion after passing of a law, but that
they were eventually replaced by the subsequent generations who did not hold their
views.
I appreciated two aspects in this
work of the author – despite the subject being highly technical, the author
tried his best to simplify for the sake of the readers. At this point I need to
mention that there is a co-author, the journalist Matthew D. LaPlante and a lot
of the efforts at simplification could have been his inputs. This was unlike
the book that I read from Edward O Wilson on Diversity of Life (who was
incidentally quoted in this book) – which felt like reading a textbook. The
author unlike a lot of scientists, was highly appreciative of his team and till
date, I have not read a longer list of names in the acknowledgements section of
a book.
This book made me think – about
what the increased lifespan could cause – especially what the author presents –
one where you not only live longer but also healthier. Considering the progress
that we have made in this field over the years, I certainly believe that the author’s
prognosis is possible, but it is not a reality that I look forward to. That was
another point addressed by the writer that he is an optimist when it comes to
the capability of humans whereas his children are a lot more pessimistic about
the future, and he does acknowledge that there are a lot of problems which do
not have a clear solution at present (e.g.,
climate change).
There are times I felt that the
author was convinced of his own research that he was not willing to consider
any cons to his premise. I would have liked it if this book had discussed the
scientific reasons on why there could be a problem with the premise. I understand
after reading his bio on the internet that his anti-ageing position is
controversial among the scientific community. One could also argue about the
ethical issues about the nature of some of his experiments – I do not have a
clear position on whether scientific progress must be chased at all costs and
thus, I was not pricked while reading any of it, but I can imagine why some
people might feel uneasy. I did find it rather odd that he analysed the DNA of
his daughters to find out that they had a particular gene and if they did not
make bad lifestyle choices, they could live till 100 without a problem.
However, if one of them did not, how would he have felt with the knowledge that
one of them was going to die earlier than the other and not to mention,
till the final chapter, I did not know that he has a son, whom he never mentioned
– so did he not conduct this analysis or did he not have the particular gene
type? I would stop my speculation on this here.
To conclude, I would say that
this is a great book providing a new perspective, on a topic that we perhaps do
not think much about and the best part is, you do not have to be an expert in
the subject to understand the essence of them book (there are sections you
might have to skim through). Considering the observations above, I would award
the book a rating of eight on ten.
Rating – 8/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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