Time of Our Lives: The Science of Human Aging - Hardcover

Kirkwood, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195128249 ISBN 13: 9780195128246

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

As recent articles about "the graying of America" suggest, a demographic revolution is well underway. The number of people living into extreme old age is increasing dramatically. By the year 2050 one in five of the world's population, including the developing countries, will be 65 or older, a fact which presages profound medical, biological, philosophical, and political changes in the coming century.
In Time of Our Lives, Tom Kirkwood unfolds some of the deepest mysteries of medical science while demolishing some of the most persistent misconceptions. He overturns the almost universally held belief that aging is either necessary or inevitable--it isn't--and debunks the idea that there exists a "death gene" that evolved to inhibit population growth. Instead, Kirkwood shows that we age because our genes, evolving at a time when life was "nasty, brutish, and short," placed little priority on the long-term maintenance of our bodies. With such knowledge, along with new insights from genome research, we can devise ways to target the root causes of aging and of age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's and osteoporosis. Expanding his thesis of the "disposable soma," developed over twenty years of research, Kirkwood makes sense of the evolution of aging, explains how aging occurs, and answers fundamental questions like why women live longer than men. He even considers the possibility that human beings will someday have greatly extended life spans or even be free from senescence altogether.
Beautifully written by one of the world's pioneering researchers into the science of aging, Time of Our Lives is a clear, original and, above all, inspiring investigation of a process all of us experience but few of us understand.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Kirkwood is Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Manchester and Director of the Manchester-Newcastle Joint Center on Aging. He is a member of several international editorial boards and scientific committees, an adviser to the World Health Organization, and winner of the Heinz Karger Prize on cellular aging. Mr. Kirkwood lives in Manchester, England.

Reviews

"Aging is neither inevitable nor necessary," declares British gerontologist Kirkwood in this unorthodox study. According to his hypothesis, which he calls the "disposable soma theory," aging occurs because genes treat organisms as dispensable, investing just enough in body maintenance to enable an organism to get through its life expectancy in the wild. Kirkwood believes that freshwater hydraAtubular pond animals with remarkable regenerative powersAare immortal, a claim made by Argentinean biologist Daniel Martinez in the early 1990s. When it comes to humans, though, Kirkwood concedes that a fountain-of-youth elixir, whether obtained through gene-repair therapy or other means, is far in the future or may never exist. His survey of scientific research into the human aging process reveals clues about the origins of arthritis, memory loss, Alzheimer's disease and immune-system impairment. He dispenses sensible if unsurprising advice on how to slow one's own aging (exercise, eat fewer calories, keep up a healthy sex life, etc.) and examines anti-aging fads, including those involving melatonin, the steroid hormone DHEA and hormone replacement therapy for women. Kirkwood's more provocative ideas include an evolutionary theory to explain menopause and his argument that cancer is an accidental throwback to "immortal" cell-growth mechanisms that were meant to be switched off. He concludes with a weak science fiction scenario in which aging has been conquered and babies are created infrequently to replace individuals who die from accident or suicide. Agent, Felicity Bryan. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A conversational, intelligent look at the current understanding of how and why biological aging occurs, along with some suggestions for how to stay healthy in old age. British gerontologist and World Health Organization advisor Kirkwood challenges two commonly held ideas about aging: first, that it is inevitable (``because we just have to wear out''), and second, that it's necessary (because if some of us don't die, the world will become ``hopelessly crowded''). The truth is infinitely more complicated, and Kirkwood, in a comfortable, entertaining, but not oversimplified style puts readers straight on what is currently known about the aging process at the cellular and higher levels. Along the way, he looks at related issues of interest: what goes wrong with the body when cancer occurs (and how cancer interacts with aging), the meaning and mechanisms of menopause, why eating less may mean living longer, why women continue to live longer than men, and what part genetics plays in longevity (says Kirkwood, ``Length of life is influenced by many things, including purely random factors like car accidents''). Kirkwood is an amiable, intelligent guide at the forefront of a fast-changing field. His is an entertaining and informative look at our current understanding of aging. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Of the many recent books on why and how we age, this is one of the best written. Kirkwood (biological gerontology, Univ. of Manchester) explains complex scientific concepts in a clear, entertaining, and personal way. In one example, he effectively uses an examination of causes of death in a remote Ghanaian village to explain how and why our lifespans in First World countries are so different from those of our ancestors. Among the topics he addresses are the evolutionary advantage of aging, the relationship of aging and cancer, why women live longer then men, Alzheimer's, and the future of gene therapy. He also addresses how to prolong life or at least improve the quality of it in later years. Unfortunately, there are no references to published research, though there is a bibliography. This is an asset to public libraries, but those preferring references might consider either Stephen Austad's Why We Age (Wiley, 1997) or John J. Medina's The Clock of Ages (LJ 3/15/96).AMarit MacArthur, Auraria Lib., Denver
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195128249
• ISBN 13: 9780195128246
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288