IMMORTALITY

Reviewed 12/22/2001

Immortality, by Ben Bova

IMMORTALITY: How Science is Extending Your Life Span — and Changing the World1
Dr. Ben Bova
New York: Avon Books, 1998

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN 0-380-97518-1 283pp. HC $24.00

In his preface, Bova uses a quotation1 from Benjamin Franklin as an epigram:

Preface: "We may learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its labor and double its produce; all diseases may be sure means be prevented or cured, not excepting even that of old age, and our lived lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian standard..."

Two more noteworthy quotations:

Page 207: "Basic research, the kind of research that seeks new knowledge for its own sake, is undoubtedly the best bargain any taxpayer has ever had. Victor Weisskopf of MIT, a science advisor to several presidents, pointed out, `The total cost of all basic research from Archimedes to the present is less than the total value of ten days of the world's present industrial production.' "
Page 218: "Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and founding president of the American Association of Bioethics, writes, `If being human means using intelligence to improve the quality of life, there is little basis for ethical ambivalence or doubt about eliminating genetic scourges, much as we have done with infectious diseases such as polio and smallpox . . . Changing our biological blueprints in pursuit of longer, healthier lives should ideally pose no more of a threat than does taking impurities out of the water supply to protect human health.' "
1 This comes from a letter to Joseph Priestly, written in 1780.

Table of Contents

Preface: A Prophet is Not Without Honor... xiii
Part One — The Scientific Evidence
Chapter 1: Extending the Human Life Span 3
Chapter 2: How We Age 20
Chapter 3: Cellular Life 36
Chapter 4: Cellular Death 50
Chapter 5: Programmed Cellular Death 60
Chapter 6: Youth and Death Genes 71
Chapter 7: The Genetic Code 79
Chapter 8: Gene Therapy 85
Chapter 9: The Human Genome Project 106
Chapter 10: Aging and Death 115
Chapter 11: Reverse Aging 124
Chapter 12: Where We Stand Today 138
Chapter 13: Genes, Telomeres and Growth Hormone 152
Chapter 14: Regeneration 158
Chapter 15: Molecular Engineering 173
Part Two — The Impact of Immortality
Chapter 16: "It's Completely Impossible" 185
Chapter 17: "It Would Cost Too Much" 200
Chapter 18: Can We Afford It? 212
Chapter 19: "I Always Thought It Was a Good Idea" 224
Chapter 20: Three Futures 232
Chapter 21: Christmas Yet To Come 243
Appendix A: Bacteria 252
Appendix B: DNA 255
Appendix C: The Genetic Code 259
References 263
Index 269
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