Book Review: Behind the Quest for Eternal Life
In “The Price of Immortality,” author Peter Ward weighs products, promises, and scientific advances on their relative likelihood of getting humans closer to immortality
AT FIRST GLANCE, one might assume that Peter Ward’s “The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever” is yet another book promising secrets to regain youth, restore health, and outlive those who lack the knowledge or willpower to cheat time. But this is no self-help book. Instead, it evaluates with a journalist’s eye our best attempts at life extension, the drama and personalities of the people who surround them, and whether immortality is something humankind should be striving for at all.
One of the best unexpected perks of working as a journalist is getting free advance books. It's great fun to get paid to read and write about them, and I am grateful for the books editor at Undark. This one was about the quest to live forever, the people who believe its possible, and the science and quackery that surrounds it. It even includes a section on some of the nanotech I worked on in graduate school, and it was so neat to hear about how it is progressing.
