Biology of Aging: Observations & Principles

The Second Edition of Biology of Aging: Observations and Principles is a complete, class-tested overview of the biological processes underlying aging at the molecular, cellular, organismal, and population levels, presented in a comparative and evolutionary context. The thrust of the book is to answer the question as to why and how we age. Rather than simply interpreting aging in the traditional health/disease context, the text describes and analyzes human aging within a strong biological and evolutionary context. It treats information on populations thoroughly (although not mathematically) to differentiate between aging and non-aging populations and to familiarize the reader with the demographic data underlying aging fact and theory, and delves into the links between aging and disease.

Biology of Aging neither perpetuates an artificial distinction between normal and pathological aging changes, nor is it merely a text on geriatrics. The author views aging as the eventual failure under stress of the body's repair systems, which leads to his view of disease as systemic failures that highlight weak points in the evolved anatomical and physiological design of the organism. The focus is on the basic biology of the aging process; diseases are merely one of the probes we use to explore the implications of that process. In addition, the book compares the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate aging in terms of what is known and what is hypothesized, delineates the differences between the two, outlines practical and safe methods to partially modulate aging that are available to the reader, and follows a flexible format that fits a variety of course requirements and instructors' preferences without losing continuity.

Part One of the book provides factual and theoretical explanations of the aging process, including a brief history of human aging. In the central section (Parts Two and Three), the author critically examines the evidence for and against a wide variety of common and esoteric aging mechanisms. There is an extensive discussion of genetic mechanisms in both humans and model systems. In the final section, the salient features of the multiple aging mechanisms are synthesized into understandable models, the same processes being examined from several different points of view. The book closes with a chapter relating biological processes to the social environment and discusses the impact of changes in longevity on the social structure of our society.

A wealth of visual and tabular information facilitates the student's understanding of the phenomenon of aging. Figures and tables directly reflect the subject matter offered in the text, and the extensive bibliography, with references up to and including 1998, allows readers to easily research their particular interests.

Although intended as a textbook of gerontology for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students in biological or biomedical fields, Biology of Aging: Observations and Principles can profitably be read by professionals in many areas and by interested readers who have some basic background in general biology.

A complete overview -- in a comparative, evolutionary context -- of the biological processes underlying aging at the cellular, organism and population levels.