"Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age" -- New Book Review

Dear All,

I am pleased to share with you some excerpts from our new book review, which is just published this month by the scientific journal "The Quarterly Review of Biology," September 2008, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 325-326. :

Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age
by Robin Holliday , Springer, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/34fzmx

"This is a short popular book written by a famous geneticist and biogerontologist. The author is a retired professor notable for his classic studies of genetic recombination, with a DNA intermediate now known as the “Holliday structure” (or “Holliday junction”).

In just 132 pages, he presents to general readers his personal understanding of the biological aging process, its multiple causes, evolution of aging and longevity, interspecies differences in life span, the number of genes involved in human aging and longevity, modulation of aging and life extension, determinants of human longevity, and many other topics, such as the origin of religion and human warfare.

This broad discussion of so many different topics is supported by a very short bibliography (just one page), which may be appropriate for the general public, but will create an impression of some incompleteness for more sophisticated readers.

The volume is useful in dispelling a myth of “healthy” aging unrelated to diseases, as the author argues convincingly that separation of age-related diseases and biological aging is not possible even at the theoretical level, because of strong interactions between these processes.

Discussion of the evolution of aging is somewhat outdated and simplistic, because too much emphasis is made on the disposable soma theory and tradeoffs between longevity and reproduction, without discussing new accumulated facts contradicting this theory.

Many readers will be surprised to learn from this book that further significant extension of human life is neither possible, nor desirable. These conservative views do not represent a current consensus of the gerontological scientific community, and no convincing arguments are presented to support them. Still, it is useful to know the author's position on this hotly debated topic of the future of human longevity.

Overall, this volume may be of interest to the general public, as it helps to balance the current bold optimistic expectations for the future of human life span and life extension with a healthy dose of skepticism.

It would be also strongly recommended that any future edition of this book contains an expanded bibliography, and deeper discussions of the scientific topics and supporting evidence, in addition to the personal views of the author."

Leonid A. Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Natalia S. Gavrilova, Ph.D.
Center on Aging
NORC and the University of Chicago

---
Published in The Quarterly Review of Biology,
September 2008, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 325-326.


Hope it helps. COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME !

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Thanks!

-- Leonid

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-- Leonid Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Website: http://longevity-science.org/
Blog: http://longevity-science.blogspot.com/
My books: http://longevity-science.org/Books.html


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How to Produce Immortal Organism?

Greetings,

Recently Professor Robin Holliday has published some interesting thoughts on a provocative topic -- How to Produce Immortal Organism. He published these bold ideas in his new book:

Aging: The Paradox of Life: Why We Age
by Robin Holliday (Hardcover - Aug 24, 2007)



Here are some excerpts from page 75 of this book:

"From a scientific point of view it is a worthwhile exercise to consider what would be necessary to produce a complex organism that was potentially immortal.

First, the animal would have to be in a steady state, that is, the adult would not be young or old, but remain anatomically and physiologically unchanged indefinitely, in the absence of some lethal accident.

Second, it would have the ability to regenerate all components of the body that began to show any signs of ageing or decay.

Third, to do this it would have to invest a large proportion of its resources in maintenance, regeneration and renewal."

Here are my thoughts on this topic:

First, the organism should not be in a steady state, because repair, regeneration and renewal could be done periodically, for example during sleep or hibernation-like state. By the way, aging and longevity could be modulated by hibernation, see Hibernation, Aging and Longevity

Second, the organism would not need to have the ability to regenerate all components of the body, if there is an external help in the form of regenerative medicine.

Third, to regenerate all components of the body, the organism would not have to invest a large proportion of its resources, if, again, there is an external help in the form of regenerative and genuine anti-aging medicine in the future. Anyway, the need for energy resources is not a problem given the rising proportion of overweight and obese people. There is plenty of unused energy, which moves into fat. It is not the lack of energy, but rather the lack of clever and efficient rejuvenation technologies, that need to be overcome. This in turn requires a boost in longevity research and public support for it.

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