Les enfants de Mathusalem

For 100,000 years mankind has tried everything to prolong a life that has always felt too short.

The hereafter of religions, Christianity's resurrection of the body, the Fountain of Eternal Youth, elixirs prepared by alchemists, transfusions performed by charlatans, valleys of longevity, the supposed secrets of centenarians, the most outlandish of transplants - anything was acceptable if it added a few years to those nature had sparingly allocated.

This book, the first overview of the subject, examines the illusions, discoveries, failures and even the latest physiological findings. Antioxidants, hormones, restricted calorie intake, telomerase, genetic programming... all the big questions are explored in clear and simple prose illustrated with concrete examples. Will the human race soon confront the watershed of reaching 150 as it currently does with reaching 100? And more importantly, how would this change the way we think, live together and understand life?