Why We Die
The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality

BOOK REVIEW: Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality by Venki Ramakrishnan 🔬🧬 Fun Fact: I love aging science so much, my master’s thesis was on foodborne illness incidence and recurrence among older adults. Safe to say I was stoked to find this book on netgalley and was ext......more

Barbara Ehrenreich said that we should "think of life as an interruption of an eternity of personal nonexistence, and seize it as a brief opportunity to observe and interact with the living, ever-surprising world around us." Venki Ramakrishnan's book about death is fascinating and illuminating. I love......more

Aging is intimately connected to the inevitable fact that we are all mortal and if we are fortunate enough to avoid all of the other causes of death, eventually we will simply cease to function. This is an authoritative book, that isn’t trying to sell you something, and as a result it’s a bit dense,......more

An excellent, clearly-written book explaining some of the fundamental molecular-biological factors that cause aging, and the most promising approaches to tackling them... completely ruined by the last two chapters. There, the author takes on the sneering aspect of the old establishment scientist, wr......more

This is clearly written, highly accessible survey of the science around ageing. This ranges from the mechanics of cells function through to topics such as dementia and the collapse of homostasis. He also looks at length at research around how to "combat" ageing from caloric restriction to cryogenics......more