Ageless Quest: One Scientist's Search for the Genes That Prolong Youth

by Leonard Guarente

Ageless Quest is a personal, sometimes controversial, account of the pursuit of a genetic 'cure' for aging by an expert in the field. The author is the Novartis Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Aging has always been regarded as a highly complex process with many degenerative changes leading to the cessation of life. But recent research has identified a relatively simple mechanism that governs the pace of aging. Lenny Guarente's Ageless Quest is a scientific detective story for the baby boom generation. It offers an insider's view of an area of potentially astonishing high reward--and equally high risk.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

164 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Joseph Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is twenty years old and I wish it would be reissued with an author’s addendum. I loved the blend of the personal with the scientific. As with several other books in this vein, the author expresses excitement about the prospects for research in the field of cellular biology at this juncture but laments the slow pace of advances and breakthroughs. There was no talk in 2003 about longevity escape velocity. Guarente feels that a twenty or twenty-five year extension in human life span is an optimistic goal.

The illustrations alone are worth the price of this book, in my opinion. Perhaps they are why no subsequent book in this genre, as far as I know, has attempted this.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on one researcher's scientific journey as they work in the controversial field of aging