Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality

“[A] searching and surprisingly witty look at the scientific odds against tomorrow.”
—Timothy Ferris

Jonathan Weiner—winner of the  Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and one of the most distinguished popular science writers in America—examines “the strange science of immortality” in Long for This World. A fast-paced, sure-to-astonish scientific adventure from “one of our finest science journalists” (Jonah Lehrer), Weiner’s Long for This World addresses the ageless question, “Is there a secret to eternal youth?” And has it, at long last, been found?

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jonathan Weiner comes a fast-paced and astonishing scientific adventure story: has the long-sought secret of eternal youth at last been found?

In recent years, the dream of eternal youth has started to look like more than just a dream. In the twentieth century alone, life expectancy increased by more than thirty years—almost as much time as humans have gained in the whole span of human existence. Today a motley array of scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs believe that another, bigger leap is at hand—that human immortality is not only possible, but attainable in our own time. Is there genius or folly in the dreams of these charismatic but eccentric thinkers?

In Long for This World, Jonathan Weiner, a natural storyteller and an intrepid reporter with a gift for making cutting-edge science understandable, takes the reader on a whirlwind intellectual quest to find out. From Berkeley to the Bronx, from Cambridge University to Dante's tomb in Ravenna, Weiner meets the leading intellectuals in the field and delves into the mind-blowing science behind the latest research. He traces the centuries-old, fascinating history of the quest for longevity in art, science, and literature, from Gilgamesh to Shakespeare, Doctor Faustus to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

And he tells the dramatic story of how aging could be conquered once and for all, focusing on the ideas of those who believe aging is a curable disease. Chief among them is the extraordinary Aubrey de Grey, a garrulous Englishman who bears more than a passing resemblance to Methuselah (at 969 years, the oldest man in the Bible) and who is perhaps immortality's most radical and engaging true believer.

A rollicking scientific adventure story in the grand manner of Oliver Sacks, Long for This World is science writing of the highest order and with the highest stakes. Could we live forever? And if we could...would we want to?

“Bizarre, fascinating, and fun.” - Rebecca Skloot, author of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

“The promise of eternal youth is both tantalizingly close and far-fetched in this fascinating primer on longevity research. Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer Weiner (The Beak of the Finch) focuses on amateur gerontologist and oddball visionary Aubrey de Grey, a charismatic motormouth who has won a respectful scientific hearing for his argument that we will soon achieve life spans of thousands of years. (His immortality program starts with the removal of a gunky cellular buildup called lipofuscin.) Weiner takes readers on an engrossing tour of cutting-edge research, while citing established life-cycle experts like Shakespeare and Yeats, and he has a knack for translating science into evocative metaphor. He tempers the “prolongevist” optimism with some daunting reality: evolution never engineered humans to last forever, the body’s myriad modes of decay may make that goal impossible, and reaching it, he speculates, might render us morbidly averse to risk or even to having children. Weiner’s erudite, elegant exposition of the underlying science is stimulating yet sobering.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“The promise of eternal youth is both tantalizingly close and far-fetched in this fascinating primer on longevity research . . . . An engrossing tour of cutting-edge research . . . . Weiner’s erudite, elegant exposition of the underlying science is stimulating yet sobering.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A brilliant and improbably funny look inside the mind-bending science of immortality.” - Village Voice

“A great trip.... Weiner writes engagingly [and] explores the fractured, fuzzy science and pseudoscience of immortality.” - Abraham Verghese, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“I admire all of Jonathan Weiner’s books, but this one especially because of its intellectual depth and clarity, its sense of personal involvement, and its tone and wit. The chapter on the evolution of aging is particularly brilliant! I couldn’t put the book down.” - Oliver Sacks

“In LONG FOR THIS WORLD, Jonathan Weiner brings his immense talents--his masterful prose, his deep reporting, and his ability to see connections across the human experience--to one of science’s most intriguing frontiers: the science of aging. He offers readers wonderfully observed profiles of scientists who have puzzled over aging for decades and forces us to ask ourselves what it would be like in a world where we could all live forever.” - Carl Zimmer, author of THE TANGLED BANK: An Introduction to Evolution and PARASITE REX

“In LONG FOR THIS WORLD, Jonathan Weiner brings his immense talents--his masterful prose, his deep reporting, and his ability to see connections across the human experience--to one of science’s most intriguing frontiers: the science of aging.” - Carl Zimmer, author of THE TANGLED BANK: An Introduction to Evolution and PARASITE REX

“LONG FOR THIS WORLD is a rich and fascinating study of the longing for immortality and our lingering doubts about the possibility of surpassing our mortal limits.” - Simon Critchley, author of THE BOOK OF DEAD PHILOSOPHERS

“Jonathan Weiner has done it again. In LONG FOR THIS WORLD, one of our finest science journalists explores the shadowy sword hanging over us all, weaving together the latest research with time-tested cultural wisdom. Will we ever live forever? And would we even want to?” - Jonah Lehrer, author of HOW WE DECIDE

“Taxes may be inevitable, but death? Maybe not so much, suggests Jonathan Weiner, one of our finest science writers, in this searching and surprisingly witty look at the scientific odds against tomorrow.” - Timothy Ferris

“I love this book. It is a mesmerizing blend of vivid (sometimes hilarious) reporting, wide-ranging scholarship, and the thoughtful probing of a great mystery. Like everything Jonathan Weiner does, it is far more than the sum of its parts.” - James Gleick