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    Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality
    Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality
    Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality
    Audiobook8 hours

    Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality

    Written by Jonathan Weiner

    Narrated by Jim Meskimen

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “[A] searching and surprisingly witty look at the scientific odds against tomorrow.”
    —Timothy Ferris

    Jonathan Weiner—winner of the  Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and one of the most distinguished popular science writers in America—examines “the strange science of immortality” in Long for This World. A fast-paced, sure-to-astonish scientific adventure from “one of our finest science journalists” (Jonah Lehrer), Weiner’s Long for This World addresses the ageless question, “Is there a secret to eternal youth?” And has it, at long last, been found?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 22, 2010
    ISBN9780062014283
    Author

    Jonathan Weiner

    Jonathan Weiner is one of the most distinguished popular-science writers in the country: his books have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, Time, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Scientific American, Smithsonian, and many other newspapers and magazines, and he is a former editor at The Sciences. His books include The Beak of the Finch; Time, Love, Memory; and His Brother's Keeper. He lives in New York, where he teaches science writing at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

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    Reviews for Long for This World

    4/5

    41 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Entertaining. If you really want to know the nuts and bolts of the science, this isn't the book to read, though. Weiner delves more into the personalities behind the science, particularly Aubrey de Gray. And Weiner is also interested in questions about why we would pursue immortality and whether it is even a good idea (his answer: probably not). The book is well worth reading, but don't expect a lot of science.
    • 3/5
      It is difficult to rate the book as a whole, for the first two of the three parts were excellent. I found it to be a faster-paced read than most fiction, yet I still learned quite a bit.

      The writing style is that of a memoir. It is, essentially, a memoir of the parts of the author's life wherein he learned about gerontology. We begin by finding out that the reason aging is so hard to study is because, as opposed to our orderly and predictable development, aging is chaotic. Every person ages differently. This provides natural arguments for almost any theory, making it difficult to narrow down the field. We go on to learn several different theories and possible solutions to the problem of aging, which were fascinating. I liked how the author explains the theories in several different ways to ensure comprehension. I disliked how many references there were to the Bible and to Shakespeare. Referencing religious texts decreases the credibility of any science book.

      The third part of the book was a huge disappointment. I thought the author would go further in depth into current research and findings, but instead he completely changed directions. The science book turned into a philosophy text, with the author discussing different opinions on the desirability and feasibility of immortality. The one part of this section that interested me as food for thought: hydra (multicellular creatures) live forever. They do that by constantly shedding old cells and growing new ones. The price they pay for living forever, then, is that their memories are replaced along with the old cells and they have no historical memory.


    • 5/5
      Endlessly fascinating!
    • 3/5
      Jonathan Weiner looks at the question of why we age, how aging might ultimately be "cured," and whether that would be a good thing. Or, rather, he mostly looks at the ideas that iconoclastic scientist and fanatical pro-immortality advocate Aubrey de Grey has on the subject. Now, this is topic that is deeply relevant to all of us, and de Grey is a colorful and provocative figure, so this seems like it should be a fascinating book. But there's something about Weiner's writing that I find frustrating. The guy can turn a phrase all right, but that's actually part of the problem. He seems way more interested in coming up with poetic metaphors and literary references, or with detailing his not-as-interesting-as-he-thinks-they-are personal encounters with de Grey than he is in digging into the science. He does manage to cover some interesting ground, but for too much of the book, I was left with an unsatisfying sense that he was talking a lot without really saying very much.
    • 5/5
      While I have occassionally thought about aging and death, I've never thought there was any real science about it, other than the fact that it's human (and animal, for that matter) nature.This book made me understand a lot more about what it means to be mortal--and what it might mean to be really immortal in our world today. The science is both interesting and easy to understand--and deeply thought provoking. If science tomorrow gave you the option to live a thousand years--would you, or wouldn't you? Read this this book to discover what your answer might be...