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The Book of Immortality: The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever
What have we not done to live forever? Adam Leith Gollner, the critically acclaimed author of The Fruit Hunters, weaves together religion, science, and mythology in a gripping exploration of the most universal of human obsessions: immortality.
Raised without religion, Adam Leith Gollner was struck by mankind’s tireless efforts to cheat aging and death. In a narrative that pivots between profundity and hilarity, he brings us into the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality. From a Jesuit priest on his deathbed to anti-aging researchers at Harvard, Gollner–sorting truth from absurdity–canvasses religion and science for insight, along with an array of cults, myths, and fringe figures.
He journeys to David Copperfield’s archipelago in the Bahamas, where the magician claims to have found “a liquid that reverses genes.” He explores a cryonics facility, attends a costume party set in the year 2068 with a group of radical life-extensionists, and soaks in the transformative mineral waters at the Esalen Institute. Looking to history, Gollner visits St. Augustine, Florida, where Ponce de Leon is thought to have sought the fountain of youth.
Combining immersive reporting, rigorous research, and lyrical prose, Gollner charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions. He delves into the symbolic representation of eternal life and its connection to water. Interlaced throughout is a compelling meditation on the nature of belief, showing how every story we tell about immortality is a story about the meaning of death.
“Part journalist, part detective, part scientist” (New York Post), Adam Leith Gollner has written a rollicking and revelatory examination of our age-old notion of living forever.
Raised without religion, Adam Leith Gollner was struck by mankind’s tireless efforts to cheat aging and death. In a narrative that pivots between profundity and hilarity, he brings us into the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality. From a Jesuit priest on his deathbed to anti-aging researchers at Harvard, Gollner–sorting truth from absurdity–canvasses religion and science for insight, along with an array of cults, myths, and fringe figures.
He journeys to David Copperfield’s archipelago in the Bahamas, where the magician claims to have found “a liquid that reverses genes.” He explores a cryonics facility, attends a costume party set in the year 2068 with a group of radical life-extensionists, and soaks in the transformative mineral waters at the Esalen Institute. Looking to history, Gollner visits St. Augustine, Florida, where Ponce de Leon is thought to have sought the fountain of youth.
Combining immersive reporting, rigorous research, and lyrical prose, Gollner charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions. He delves into the symbolic representation of eternal life and its connection to water. Interlaced throughout is a compelling meditation on the nature of belief, showing how every story we tell about immortality is a story about the meaning of death.
“Part journalist, part detective, part scientist” (New York Post), Adam Leith Gollner has written a rollicking and revelatory examination of our age-old notion of living forever.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2013
20 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Adam Leith Gollner
6 books23 followersAdam Leith Gollner is the author of The Book of Immortality and The Fruit Hunters.
He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, The Guardian, the Globe and Mail, Saveur, Good, and Lucky Peach, among others.
He used to be Editor of Vice Magazine and also played in a number of bands. He lives in Montreal.
He has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, The Guardian, the Globe and Mail, Saveur, Good, and Lucky Peach, among others.
He used to be Editor of Vice Magazine and also played in a number of bands. He lives in Montreal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 9, 2022
Gollner is an inquisitive, sociable guy, touring the world to check out schemes for attaining eternal life. He talks to Catholic priests, Sufis, Orthodox Jews, channelers of departed spirits, fountain of youth tour guides, cryonics body-freezers, magicians, true believers in remedies for rejuvenation to the point of bodily immortality, funders for organizations such as the Immortality Institute or the “Fuck Death Foundation,” and researchers in enterprises for eliminating death such as Sirtris or the defunct company Halycon Molecular.
Off the top, Gollner throws out a rationale whereby life is divided into the knowable and the unknowable. Many things will never be known, and all ideas about those things are matters of belief. In that sense, all beliefs are equally beliefs, and one of those beliefs is that there’s some way to never die. Gollner’s discussions on all this are far-ranging; he keeps the ball rolling, but much of it is an exercise in speculation. Concerning open-minded credulity, he quotes the historian Lucian Boia: “These people who pretended to believe in nothing at all, except, to some extent, in philosophy and science, were ripe to be caught in any trap that a person of speculative intelligence could set. Because they believed in nothing, they were ready to believe anything.” Overall, the book shows a host of contrasts between people obsessed with immortalizing themselves (as in cryonics promoter Robert Ettinger’s book YOUNIVERSE: Toward a Self-Centered Philosophy), and people who can view death with a kind of beautiful serenity.
To me, the most disturbing thing that Gollner finds is the degree of profit-motivated research fraud, and the pharmaceutical industry’s expanding influence on academic and medical practice. I’ll give a quote he gets from Harvard University Medical School professor Marcia Angell:
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached only slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. … The big drug companies bribed and corrupted the medical establishment so that we no longer know which drugs are effective or why our doctors prescribe them.”
Off the top, Gollner throws out a rationale whereby life is divided into the knowable and the unknowable. Many things will never be known, and all ideas about those things are matters of belief. In that sense, all beliefs are equally beliefs, and one of those beliefs is that there’s some way to never die. Gollner’s discussions on all this are far-ranging; he keeps the ball rolling, but much of it is an exercise in speculation. Concerning open-minded credulity, he quotes the historian Lucian Boia: “These people who pretended to believe in nothing at all, except, to some extent, in philosophy and science, were ripe to be caught in any trap that a person of speculative intelligence could set. Because they believed in nothing, they were ready to believe anything.” Overall, the book shows a host of contrasts between people obsessed with immortalizing themselves (as in cryonics promoter Robert Ettinger’s book YOUNIVERSE: Toward a Self-Centered Philosophy), and people who can view death with a kind of beautiful serenity.
To me, the most disturbing thing that Gollner finds is the degree of profit-motivated research fraud, and the pharmaceutical industry’s expanding influence on academic and medical practice. I’ll give a quote he gets from Harvard University Medical School professor Marcia Angell:
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached only slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. … The big drug companies bribed and corrupted the medical establishment so that we no longer know which drugs are effective or why our doctors prescribe them.”
November 13, 2015
There are effectively two books in Adam Leigh Gollner's "The Book of Immortality". The first is a discussion of the various beliefs that have sprung up over time dealing with how humanity relates to death and the subject of immortality—be it physical, spiritual, or other. This is a decent work—3, maybe 3.5 stars—marred by several flaws: an unclear organisation and the use of a mere bibliography rather than end notes are my two biggest ones. ("As a poet said..." Yes, but which poet and when?) The style is more than a little overwritten, but it's pop. history; that's to be expected.
The second book contained within is Gollner's journey meeting people, discussing things with them (generally, but not always, related to immortality) and comments about the journey, his dreams, his childhood, &c.. It's effectively de rigeur these days that a book has to have some sort of personal narrative. At the same time, it takes up as much space as the actual interesting information, makes the unclear organisation worse, and is, quite frankly, a complete and total bore. It's the Thomas Friedman school of writing, where supposedly deep insights are drawn from encounters with ordinary people. (No cab drivers were present, at least.)
My conclusion: stick with the excerpts in The Paris Review, which removes the personal narrative in favour of only the factual information, and skip the book itself.
The second book contained within is Gollner's journey meeting people, discussing things with them (generally, but not always, related to immortality) and comments about the journey, his dreams, his childhood, &c.. It's effectively de rigeur these days that a book has to have some sort of personal narrative. At the same time, it takes up as much space as the actual interesting information, makes the unclear organisation worse, and is, quite frankly, a complete and total bore. It's the Thomas Friedman school of writing, where supposedly deep insights are drawn from encounters with ordinary people. (No cab drivers were present, at least.)
My conclusion: stick with the excerpts in The Paris Review, which removes the personal narrative in favour of only the factual information, and skip the book itself.
August 21, 2018
Since this book is subtitled The Science, Belief, and Magic behind living forever, I was actually expecting it to be about that.
Instead, most of this book was about the author's personal relationship with science, belief, and magic, often having nothing to do with immortality whatsoever.
There were sections of this book (especially the first third, dealing with belief), where the information presented was entertaining and urging you to read on. But most of it felt more like the long overdue redundant ramblings of some pseudo-intellectual blogger who doesn't know when to end his post. I enjoy my non-fiction books to be factual, so I can draw my own conclusions from what I read. If there's a bit of the author's personality behind, then I'm OK with it. If every little bit and piece of information is filtered through the author's own view and presented as some kind of deep revelation full of purple prose, then I find that hard to digest.
This was probably my main problem with the book. A lot of it was very personal and carried a sort of pretense of profundity that verged onto the absurd. The second problem was that the title, subtitle, and blurb had very little connection to the actual content. Yes, the author went on various trips and talked to various people to find out about immortality. But often, immortality felt more like a background afterthought. You see, the author was much more interested in people than in concepts. He had a way of projecting his own thoughts, feelings, and visions onto real people that really pissed me off. It felt like throughout the book, he wasn't dealing with people, made out of actual flesh and bones, but with characters, constructed from his own impressions. This blur between fiction and non-fiction didn't sit well with me. Sure, I don't expect him to report each and every little thing like it happened... but this fictionalizing of every interaction managed to draw attention to the technique, rather than to the actual search for immortality.
It's a pity, because you can tell that the author did his homework and researched a lot. There are short chapters that deal with actual religions or influential people who sought immortality or coped with the idea of mortality, but he glosses over them so fast, you barely get to remember a thing. Instead, the author devotes most of this book to his own obsessions... such as the fountain of youth. About a third of this book (the middle, magic-related section) deals with how the author convinced the magician David Copperfield to invite him to his personal island and let the author explore it, hoping to find rejuvenating waters. It dragged on and on and again, the author cast so much projection over the entire situation, it felt like a desperate need to make some boring hundred or so pages seem like a contemporary fairytale.
The last section of the book, dealing with science, had the most anti-scientific view on the subject I've encountered in years. It's clear that the author doesn't understand and doesn't even want to make an effort to understand science. What's annoying is that even if he tries to hide it, he seems completely against it. In his mind, he has equated science with some belief system. Instead of presenting how science deals with the matter of immortality and what the limitations to a scientific approach to immortality are, he focused on the limitation of science in general. He seemed so desperate to only encounter the most extreme cases of science practitioners and science believers and discredit all of them as weirdos who understand nothing because they don't believe in some sort of magic spiritual force, that I had to put the book aside for a week to calm my disgust at the author's bias.
In conclusion, I got this book hoping to read about immortality, as research for the series I'm writing. Instead, I read almost 400 tiny-font-sized pages of some dude's shower thoughts. It baffles me that editors don't sit down with the authors to tell them, "Hey honey, these dozen chapters in which you spew your inner helplessness at the idea of death really aren't interesting to read. Cut them all and let the book breathe. Also, try to actually talk about the subject you're promising."
Instead, most of this book was about the author's personal relationship with science, belief, and magic, often having nothing to do with immortality whatsoever.
There were sections of this book (especially the first third, dealing with belief), where the information presented was entertaining and urging you to read on. But most of it felt more like the long overdue redundant ramblings of some pseudo-intellectual blogger who doesn't know when to end his post. I enjoy my non-fiction books to be factual, so I can draw my own conclusions from what I read. If there's a bit of the author's personality behind, then I'm OK with it. If every little bit and piece of information is filtered through the author's own view and presented as some kind of deep revelation full of purple prose, then I find that hard to digest.
This was probably my main problem with the book. A lot of it was very personal and carried a sort of pretense of profundity that verged onto the absurd. The second problem was that the title, subtitle, and blurb had very little connection to the actual content. Yes, the author went on various trips and talked to various people to find out about immortality. But often, immortality felt more like a background afterthought. You see, the author was much more interested in people than in concepts. He had a way of projecting his own thoughts, feelings, and visions onto real people that really pissed me off. It felt like throughout the book, he wasn't dealing with people, made out of actual flesh and bones, but with characters, constructed from his own impressions. This blur between fiction and non-fiction didn't sit well with me. Sure, I don't expect him to report each and every little thing like it happened... but this fictionalizing of every interaction managed to draw attention to the technique, rather than to the actual search for immortality.
It's a pity, because you can tell that the author did his homework and researched a lot. There are short chapters that deal with actual religions or influential people who sought immortality or coped with the idea of mortality, but he glosses over them so fast, you barely get to remember a thing. Instead, the author devotes most of this book to his own obsessions... such as the fountain of youth. About a third of this book (the middle, magic-related section) deals with how the author convinced the magician David Copperfield to invite him to his personal island and let the author explore it, hoping to find rejuvenating waters. It dragged on and on and again, the author cast so much projection over the entire situation, it felt like a desperate need to make some boring hundred or so pages seem like a contemporary fairytale.
The last section of the book, dealing with science, had the most anti-scientific view on the subject I've encountered in years. It's clear that the author doesn't understand and doesn't even want to make an effort to understand science. What's annoying is that even if he tries to hide it, he seems completely against it. In his mind, he has equated science with some belief system. Instead of presenting how science deals with the matter of immortality and what the limitations to a scientific approach to immortality are, he focused on the limitation of science in general. He seemed so desperate to only encounter the most extreme cases of science practitioners and science believers and discredit all of them as weirdos who understand nothing because they don't believe in some sort of magic spiritual force, that I had to put the book aside for a week to calm my disgust at the author's bias.
In conclusion, I got this book hoping to read about immortality, as research for the series I'm writing. Instead, I read almost 400 tiny-font-sized pages of some dude's shower thoughts. It baffles me that editors don't sit down with the authors to tell them, "Hey honey, these dozen chapters in which you spew your inner helplessness at the idea of death really aren't interesting to read. Cut them all and let the book breathe. Also, try to actually talk about the subject you're promising."
February 19, 2017
The first few sections were filled with esoteric mumbo-jumbo, the magic and religious aspects, that is. I suppose part of it was my own interest in the life extension science, which is a bit different than immortality. Although the author did briefly delve into the science of longevity for a hot second. Still, it left me wanting.
Far too much time was spent on tangential and irrelevent facets about his research into immortality. During his research on the fountain of youth, for instance, he went to St Augustine where Ponce de Leon supposedly searched for it. And spent some awkward moments with David Copperfield based on a claim of a modern-day pond of youth on one of his islands. Yet after uncovering that Ponce de Leon wasn't actually searching for a fountain of youth, thousands of pages (that might be a slight exaggeration, but it did feel like thousands) were still dedicated to it. And just like the unfruitful interrogation of Copperfield, details that were irrelevent made it into the book. Why should I care about Copperfield's clothing habits, or movie choices, or other eccentricities of the rich and famous? Why should I care about St Augustine's tourism desires and the lack of historical accuracy followed by local employees? I don't. But what could have been a brief book became a tedious tome of boredom.
Far too much time was spent on tangential and irrelevent facets about his research into immortality. During his research on the fountain of youth, for instance, he went to St Augustine where Ponce de Leon supposedly searched for it. And spent some awkward moments with David Copperfield based on a claim of a modern-day pond of youth on one of his islands. Yet after uncovering that Ponce de Leon wasn't actually searching for a fountain of youth, thousands of pages (that might be a slight exaggeration, but it did feel like thousands) were still dedicated to it. And just like the unfruitful interrogation of Copperfield, details that were irrelevent made it into the book. Why should I care about Copperfield's clothing habits, or movie choices, or other eccentricities of the rich and famous? Why should I care about St Augustine's tourism desires and the lack of historical accuracy followed by local employees? I don't. But what could have been a brief book became a tedious tome of boredom.
September 27, 2013
Well, the idea of immortality is neat in theory but in practice, well, maybe not so much. But that hasn't stopped people from being consumed by this idea, and by people I mean HUMANITY throughout history. Divided into sections about belief (ie: not just religion), magic (with a memorable guest appearance by David Copperfield) and science (some quakery and some not so duckish), Gollner travels the world (literally) to get to the heart of why we seek immortality. This could have been a facile book but Gollner's natural curiosity (I mean, if he were questioning me, I might punch him eventually) (FULL DISCLOSURE: Adam is my friend) has him exploring diverse lines of questioning and leads and, well, he gets invited to David Copperfield's "magic" private island in the Caribbean and to a party set in 2068 in California (duh) and to talk to sufis and a Hassidic baker and on and on it goes. The amount of scholarship here is astounding: just the forward throws a tremendous amount of (new) information at the reader. But all that scholarship is not showy - it's there for a reason and for a conclusion that is ultimately profoundly heartfelt and human. This book could have easily been 25% shorter (the editor in me kept cutting passages) but that is a minor quibble in a book that is truly fascinating (in the broadest sense of the word) from start to finish.
May 31, 2017
The only reason why I finished this book is so that I could feel justified in reviewing it. I absolutely hated it. Gollner seems to combine a passion for nonsensical “spiritual” analogies with a virulent disregard for scientific objectivity. In this book he manages to praise all sorts of religious beliefs in the afterlife while equally denigrating any research into longevity. I was absolutely floored to see him eviscerate the scientists looking to extend the human lifespan through the study of telomeres while at the same time giving the most passionate defense of the idea of the “life force” as stated by a Jesuit priest. The book is further worsen by his schizophrenic style of interjecting random historical notes or lapsing into nonsensical lyrical prose on the “life force” experienced in David Copperfield’s “Fountain of Youth” in the Bahamas . I found the book so meandering that I just wanted to get to the end to see if he ever straightens out the narrative into any cohesive argument (he doesn’t).
July 12, 2018
Looking for a mushy headed examination of immortality that combines the trite personal observations of a shallow thinker with an unquestioning acceptance of unmitigated nonsense? Well, apparently you need to look no further than The Book of Immortality: The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever. I say ‘apparently’ because Adam Leith Gollner made so many breathtakingly ignorant claims early on in the text that I quit somewhere in chapter three as Gollner was incoherently rambling about ‘birds made of water’ and ‘chewing on the oceans blue flesh’ and other irrational crap pulled from deep within his … uh, imagination.
Let’s take a look at two of the mind-numbingly clueless claims Gollner makes right out of the gate:
1. That atheism is a belief system in the same way that religion is a belief system.
2. That neither science nor religion can tell us anything about the existence of an afterlife, therefore the only thing that can be said with certainty is that ‘it’s a mystery’.
Claim - Atheism is a religion:
This absurd assertion has been debunked numerous times but we’ll do it again.
‘Theism’ means ‘belief in a god or gods’, ‘atheism’ is the opposite (a lack of belief in a god or gods). By its very definition, atheism is not a belief system. As one wag put it “if atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby”.
That should end things right there, but the standard religionist response is “Atheists ‘believe’ that no god exists, therefore they are relying on faith in the same way that theists rely on faith.” The mental gymnastics involved in a statement of this kind are clear. Religions maintain a belief in the supernatural through ‘faith’, i.e. belief without evidence. Atheists do not rely on faith or belief to conclude that there is no god, rather, they have examined the evidence and, given that none exists, have rationally concluded the supernatural is nonexistent.
The only thing that can be said about an afterlife is that it is a ‘mystery’:
I happen to believe that an invisible dragon lives in my garage. Science can’t prove it doesn’t exist, therefore the only thing anyone can rationally conclude is thatit’s a mystery I’m delusional because an invisible dragon is contrary to every known law of the universe in which we live.
Here’s the thing, we know that consciousness is a product of the brain. When brain function is altered or when it ends, our consciousness ends along with it. It’s that simple. How do we know this is the case? Well, you directly experienced this phenomenon last night while you slept. Your consciousness was extinguished due to changes in your brain function (i.e. non-REM sleep). Your consciousness didn’t persist independently of your brain or go somewhere else as you slept … it ceased to exist. Just as a flame disappears when you blow out a candle, the same will be true of your consciousness when you die.
Need more proof? As physicist Sean Carrol has stated “The laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely known”. In order for consciousness to persist outside of a functioning brain some force or mechanism to allow it to do so would need to exist. But the physics underlying everyday life are completely known and none of them could possibly serve in this capacity. The logical conclusion regarding an afterlife is that it’s a human invention in response to our innate fear of death.
I’m surprised that Gollner wasn’t too embarrassed to commit his sloppy reasoning to paper, but am thankful he did so in the early stages of this book because he saved me a lot of time that would otherwise have been wasted were I to have continued reading.
With that out of the way, I would like to say something about the human quest to solve the mystery of aging in an attempt to extend human life … possibly indefinitely. Like many others, I would like to like to live many hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of years. But it’s a truly terrible idea for two reasons.
First – there are simply too many humans on the planet as it is. Doubling or tripling the human lifespan would only exacerbate the growing problems of overpopulation, resource depletion, pollution, species extinction, destruction of ecosystems, global warming as well as the human conflicts that are an outgrowth of these issues. The primary consequence of indefinite life extension would be a long life barely worth living.
Second – While humans are far from perfect, we have made progress as a species. We no longer burn witches at the stake or torture them because they committed heresy. We have made great strides with regards to civil rights, human rights and equal rights. But our work isn’t finished. Extending the human lifespan indefinitely would doom our species to ideological stagnation. Imagine 42% of the American population believing it was fine to take children away from their immigrant parents and lock them in cages, that abortion should be a criminal offense, that the U.S. should align itself with Russia instead of our European allies and that white nationalism is an ideal to aspire towards and that these loathsome beliefs would persist indefinitely into the future.
The reality is that one way we make progress as a species is because people with terrible ideas inextricably lodged in their brains eventually die to be replaced by individuals who do not. I cannot help but look around at my fellow citizens in 2018 and think how far we still have to go. Life extension technologies would prevent progress from occurring.
Let’s take a look at two of the mind-numbingly clueless claims Gollner makes right out of the gate:
1. That atheism is a belief system in the same way that religion is a belief system.
2. That neither science nor religion can tell us anything about the existence of an afterlife, therefore the only thing that can be said with certainty is that ‘it’s a mystery’.
Claim - Atheism is a religion:
This absurd assertion has been debunked numerous times but we’ll do it again.
‘Theism’ means ‘belief in a god or gods’, ‘atheism’ is the opposite (a lack of belief in a god or gods). By its very definition, atheism is not a belief system. As one wag put it “if atheism is a religion, then not collecting stamps is a hobby”.
That should end things right there, but the standard religionist response is “Atheists ‘believe’ that no god exists, therefore they are relying on faith in the same way that theists rely on faith.” The mental gymnastics involved in a statement of this kind are clear. Religions maintain a belief in the supernatural through ‘faith’, i.e. belief without evidence. Atheists do not rely on faith or belief to conclude that there is no god, rather, they have examined the evidence and, given that none exists, have rationally concluded the supernatural is nonexistent.
The only thing that can be said about an afterlife is that it is a ‘mystery’:
I happen to believe that an invisible dragon lives in my garage. Science can’t prove it doesn’t exist, therefore the only thing anyone can rationally conclude is that
Here’s the thing, we know that consciousness is a product of the brain. When brain function is altered or when it ends, our consciousness ends along with it. It’s that simple. How do we know this is the case? Well, you directly experienced this phenomenon last night while you slept. Your consciousness was extinguished due to changes in your brain function (i.e. non-REM sleep). Your consciousness didn’t persist independently of your brain or go somewhere else as you slept … it ceased to exist. Just as a flame disappears when you blow out a candle, the same will be true of your consciousness when you die.
Need more proof? As physicist Sean Carrol has stated “The laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely known”. In order for consciousness to persist outside of a functioning brain some force or mechanism to allow it to do so would need to exist. But the physics underlying everyday life are completely known and none of them could possibly serve in this capacity. The logical conclusion regarding an afterlife is that it’s a human invention in response to our innate fear of death.
I’m surprised that Gollner wasn’t too embarrassed to commit his sloppy reasoning to paper, but am thankful he did so in the early stages of this book because he saved me a lot of time that would otherwise have been wasted were I to have continued reading.
With that out of the way, I would like to say something about the human quest to solve the mystery of aging in an attempt to extend human life … possibly indefinitely. Like many others, I would like to like to live many hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of years. But it’s a truly terrible idea for two reasons.
First – there are simply too many humans on the planet as it is. Doubling or tripling the human lifespan would only exacerbate the growing problems of overpopulation, resource depletion, pollution, species extinction, destruction of ecosystems, global warming as well as the human conflicts that are an outgrowth of these issues. The primary consequence of indefinite life extension would be a long life barely worth living.
Second – While humans are far from perfect, we have made progress as a species. We no longer burn witches at the stake or torture them because they committed heresy. We have made great strides with regards to civil rights, human rights and equal rights. But our work isn’t finished. Extending the human lifespan indefinitely would doom our species to ideological stagnation. Imagine 42% of the American population believing it was fine to take children away from their immigrant parents and lock them in cages, that abortion should be a criminal offense, that the U.S. should align itself with Russia instead of our European allies and that white nationalism is an ideal to aspire towards and that these loathsome beliefs would persist indefinitely into the future.
The reality is that one way we make progress as a species is because people with terrible ideas inextricably lodged in their brains eventually die to be replaced by individuals who do not. I cannot help but look around at my fellow citizens in 2018 and think how far we still have to go. Life extension technologies would prevent progress from occurring.
January 15, 2014
My main takeaway: The high number of life-extending elixirs containing mercury that have been created and consumed across human history and many cultures is truly unfortunate.
April 6, 2020
To me, this read a lot like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Gollner really shone whenever he was speaking to any one of the fantastic oddballs on his search for the fountain of youth.
November 15, 2018
Definitely two books written here: one of science and one of belief. However, though I believed the author's narrative of his searching for meaning, I thought he went way off the beaten path at times. I thought a few chapters didn't add to the overall argument for or against immortality. Promising, but didn't quite deliver.
July 15, 2019
I like that it depicts more sides: religion, myths and science. In the end is true that we choose to believe in things in which we find ourselves. A bit sort of journal and I did not enjoy the descriptions of getting ready for the next trips and some conversations that could have been as well taken out. It felt like I had a look at the world we live in. It was interesting.
August 13, 2025
3 1/2 but just for that second half. That first half was bangin’.
April 20, 2022
Full of stories that makes you wonder about the consequences of living a long life
August 20, 2013
Here is a review by my uncle Nicholas Voeikoff-Erens:
A religion, magic and science survey from antiquity to now, regarding humanity's quest to overcome death and defying age and disease.
Erudite and pop mingled with personal glimpses drawn from family and friends, from auntie Tiny's funeral notice, to an aging Jesuit professor Gervais to his buddy Raf Katigak.
The motive for his search is to find an intersection of religion, magic and science, wherein immortality is revealed as either fake or fact.
Neither of the 3 vectors survive Gollner's probing prose unscathed, journalism, often very funny, at times with a quirky twist all his own, witty and always limpid discourse worthy of the best academics.
The highlight of the book is how Gollner and his sidekick Raf, penetrate the creepy world of the magician David Copperfield, a world of illusionism and fakery and the pitifully vulnerable creature that is David, hiding behind his fountain of youth on his kitschy resort, a distopia in the Bahamas, designed to lure the billionares of the day.
2013 finds immortality just as elusive as it was since man began to dream of how to defeat death.
A good read, lots of facts and laughs throughout.
A tip to the reader: If you have a property with a dubious water source, put it on the market as a fountain of youth.
A religion, magic and science survey from antiquity to now, regarding humanity's quest to overcome death and defying age and disease.
Erudite and pop mingled with personal glimpses drawn from family and friends, from auntie Tiny's funeral notice, to an aging Jesuit professor Gervais to his buddy Raf Katigak.
The motive for his search is to find an intersection of religion, magic and science, wherein immortality is revealed as either fake or fact.
Neither of the 3 vectors survive Gollner's probing prose unscathed, journalism, often very funny, at times with a quirky twist all his own, witty and always limpid discourse worthy of the best academics.
The highlight of the book is how Gollner and his sidekick Raf, penetrate the creepy world of the magician David Copperfield, a world of illusionism and fakery and the pitifully vulnerable creature that is David, hiding behind his fountain of youth on his kitschy resort, a distopia in the Bahamas, designed to lure the billionares of the day.
2013 finds immortality just as elusive as it was since man began to dream of how to defeat death.
A good read, lots of facts and laughs throughout.
A tip to the reader: If you have a property with a dubious water source, put it on the market as a fountain of youth.
September 6, 2016
Pretentious title. Something of a brief history of man's view of and seeking for immortality. And the current state of the science of ageing as told by a layman to the field.
The writing is somewhat uneven, repetitious and fluffy. The author did a fair amount of research; perhaps not enough for a Doctoral thesis.
Of value is the recounting of undertakings, ever unsuccessful, to defeat old age and death, from ancient efforts through today's newest remedies. More wealth is wasted now than ever in this quest. The difference is that our age has more science to misuse, more people to confuse and more money to lose. And the mountebanks and quacks grow fatter, as always, and then get old and die.
Were it likely that readers, perhaps seduced by the title, might reach this realization and not waste their thousands of dollars on modern elixirs, then the book should have another star or two.
The author's unfortunate musings on the philosophy of science towards the end of the book was sufficiently inexact that I was impelled to finish the last 50 pages in under ten seconds.
The writing is somewhat uneven, repetitious and fluffy. The author did a fair amount of research; perhaps not enough for a Doctoral thesis.
Of value is the recounting of undertakings, ever unsuccessful, to defeat old age and death, from ancient efforts through today's newest remedies. More wealth is wasted now than ever in this quest. The difference is that our age has more science to misuse, more people to confuse and more money to lose. And the mountebanks and quacks grow fatter, as always, and then get old and die.
Were it likely that readers, perhaps seduced by the title, might reach this realization and not waste their thousands of dollars on modern elixirs, then the book should have another star or two.
The author's unfortunate musings on the philosophy of science towards the end of the book was sufficiently inexact that I was impelled to finish the last 50 pages in under ten seconds.
March 17, 2014
This book was truly fascinating. Ever since humans became aware of themselves and the natural world around them, they have sought to explain, and to conquer, the eternal mystery of death. Gollner explores different faith traditions and interviews various colorful personalities along the spectrum of immortality-seekers: from anti-aging researchers to longevity proponents to cryonics enthusiasts to transhumanists. Along the way, he receives some insights on the human condition, and comes to a realization about his own feelings on the subject.
Plus, there's David Copperfield and his mysterious fountain of youth island hideaway. You've got to love that.
The Book of Immortality is a fine companion to Charlatan, which I have previously reviewed, and even mentions Brinkley. Highly recommended!
Plus, there's David Copperfield and his mysterious fountain of youth island hideaway. You've got to love that.
The Book of Immortality is a fine companion to Charlatan, which I have previously reviewed, and even mentions Brinkley. Highly recommended!
March 3, 2019
This book is a fascinating read. It was more personal than I thought it would be. For some reason, I assumed it would be an outsider's look into the world of beliefs about immortality, but it's hard to remain that divested.
As you read it, you are confronted with your own beliefs, or lack of them. It also challenges you to remain non judgmental towards others.
Adam Gollner shows a lot of restraint and respect in writing about the people in this book. It is elegant and thoughtful, and funny at times. My favourite moment was the Buddhist ceremony.
The never-ending quest for immortality, which has been sought-after since forever, has been down some sad roads. Roads which never end and keep doubling back to places we've been before. Like following a Möbius strip, doomed to repeat itself.
People looking for a way out of death will not like this book.
As you read it, you are confronted with your own beliefs, or lack of them. It also challenges you to remain non judgmental towards others.
Adam Gollner shows a lot of restraint and respect in writing about the people in this book. It is elegant and thoughtful, and funny at times. My favourite moment was the Buddhist ceremony.
The never-ending quest for immortality, which has been sought-after since forever, has been down some sad roads. Roads which never end and keep doubling back to places we've been before. Like following a Möbius strip, doomed to repeat itself.
People looking for a way out of death will not like this book.
March 16, 2014
After a recent binge on YA books (which I can read in a day or two), switching back to non-fiction and a rather heavy topic, was a bit of a challenge. Took me a few weeks to get through this book, but I would highly recommend it.
I think what stands out the most is the the role of the researcher, the journalist... the guy out there searching for a story. He's not proving a point, or writing a theory, or making a persuasion, he's out there honestly listening and recording different people and their views and beliefs on immortality (both physical and spiritual). I think what I love the most is that he's agnostic/ a skeptic... but never does he dismiss anyone's beliefs as anything less than valid.
History, Science, Faith, Religion, Pseudo-Science, Revisionist History, Storytelling... it's all there. And it's all beautiful.
I think what stands out the most is the the role of the researcher, the journalist... the guy out there searching for a story. He's not proving a point, or writing a theory, or making a persuasion, he's out there honestly listening and recording different people and their views and beliefs on immortality (both physical and spiritual). I think what I love the most is that he's agnostic/ a skeptic... but never does he dismiss anyone's beliefs as anything less than valid.
History, Science, Faith, Religion, Pseudo-Science, Revisionist History, Storytelling... it's all there. And it's all beautiful.
July 3, 2014
This was an interesting read, although I found it very uneven with regards to retaining my interest. The parts I found most interesting and enjoyable involved direct discussions with colourful individuals such as Father Gervais and of course David Copperfield (at one point, I felt the whole book was leading up to finally meeting Copperfield in person, but in the end, I feel he did not overdo it; the Copperfield parts fit in within the overall context).
In summary, it is certainly a unique book and one that treats its subject thoroughly with detailed research and both serious and lighthearted commentary. My complaints have to do with numerous parts which were very dry and where I had difficulty remaining engaged in his arguments. Overall, worth a look, but at times difficult to plow through.
In summary, it is certainly a unique book and one that treats its subject thoroughly with detailed research and both serious and lighthearted commentary. My complaints have to do with numerous parts which were very dry and where I had difficulty remaining engaged in his arguments. Overall, worth a look, but at times difficult to plow through.
September 6, 2016
This book was in a list of recommendations that I found in Lizzie's kobo. It seemed to be a fortuitous suggestion so I purchased it. It was a very good read. The only part I would consider a bit odd was the whole section around Copperfield the magician. The book takes an areligious look at what happens after death...of course no one knows. But the rest is all over the map. Some of it quacky, but so is most of the crap that some people believe. It was refreshing and timely to read at this difficult time for me.
October 5, 2013
I thought this book was very insightful and made me think about my own mortality. Reading about other religions and their beliefs about immortality was insightful. The part on David Copperfields island was entertaining. The science part of the book was a little slow for me though. Maybe because science is not my cup of tea even when I was in school. Other then that I liked the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2014
Interesting account of how people have denied the reality of death for centuries, and continue to delude themselves into thinking it won't happen to them if they do this or this. My main criticism of the book is the author's skimpy use of sources, with only authors and titles given, with no footnotes. He does bring up interesting points about belief, and wishing to perpetuate oneself.
January 28, 2016
An interesting mix of thorough research and tongue-in-cheek commentary. Gollner's book covered much of the playing field of the title. His take on what is and isn't "religion" and our contemporary way of looking at our own points of view was enlightening.
My favorite comment was something like "Because they believe in nothing, they are likely to believe in anything."
My favorite comment was something like "Because they believe in nothing, they are likely to believe in anything."
March 12, 2014
I read this via audiobook bc I've been following the health and wellness industry, but this book bared little relevance to what I've been following. That's my fault for not looking into what this book was about before I downloaded it. Didn't hold my interest.
Want to read
April 1, 2014Top 5 Science and Nature - PLA
February 28, 2015
I listened to the audio book version of this. It was very interesting but drawn out and very dry at certain points.
February 6, 2016
This was overall an interesting read on an interesting topic. I found some sections of it more interesting than others.
November 6, 2016
The premise of this book was so promising, but Gollner made everything needlessly confusing with over the top, flowery prose. Unfortunately, this one just isn't for me.
November 21, 2013
An amusing mostly philosophical romp through the subject, cuz' it ain't happening here yet.
December 13, 2014
I found this book to be very intriguing although some chapters more so than others.
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