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Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To

David A. Sinclair (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 13,264 ratings · 1,513 reviews

It’s a seemingly undeniable truth that aging is inevitable. But what if everything we’ve been taught to believe about aging is wrong? What if we could choose our lifespan?

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. David Sinclair, leading world authority on genetics and longevity, reveals a bold new theory for why we age. As he writes: “Aging is a disease, and that disease is treata ...more

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ebook, 432 pages

Published September 10th 2019 by Atria Books

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Jan 03, 2020 Always Pouting rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Oh boy, I just finished this and I'm incredibly annoyed. I want to start off by saying that I didn't pay for this and I'm glad I didn't. I had credits on Amazon to get a kindle book so this was one of the ones I bought because I had heard Sinclair on Peter Attia's podcast and I had thought that this book would be more research and science heavy. The last almost hundred pages of this book of 300-ish pages is what put me in such a bad mood. Personally I have zero patience for self styled thought l Oh boy, I just finished this and I'm incredibly annoyed. I want to start off by saying that I didn't pay for this and I'm glad I didn't. I had credits on Amazon to get a kindle book so this was one of the ones I bought because I had heard Sinclair on Peter Attia's podcast and I had thought that this book would be more research and science heavy. The last almost hundred pages of this book of 300-ish pages is what put me in such a bad mood. Personally I have zero patience for self styled thought leaders of any kind and people who want to spend all my time telling me about some inevitable future. The last third of this book is about the future and supposedly is grappling with the ethics of extending human life, which it doesnt do convincingly. There was no mention of research really and Sinclair uses random studies to try to justify his idea that living forever will actually be good for us. What was the point of using that study on people who stopped to help other people to try and say that people living longer might feel less rushed and imply it would make us kinder and then to proceed to acknowledge what an idiotic thing that was to say because of the leap being made. Like just leave it out man. Also I don't care about his politics, even if a lot of it aligns with my own, like why are you telling me this. It just felt annoying and self important for him to tell me these things I dont care about. I dont want to know about Sinclair's hopes and dreams and positions on high profile issues. The best part of this book was just the middle part where he actually discussed the research and science and interesting ideas of what may be happening. I wish it had been more of that and less of this exposition of himself and his life. Also this is going to be hypocritical but it was so annoying how it didn't have as much of a cohesive structure or flow through out the book and how he jumped from thing to thing without building on it and going into depth and detail about it. I know my reviews are chaotic but I'm not charging money or styling myself as some expert in something who can enlighten you on the subject.

I feel like the whole purpose of this book is for Sinclair to expand on his on feelings and experiences around the issue of aging. It serves the purpose of persuasion to push for viewing aging in the framework he thinks it should be viewed in and to thus allow for more attention/funding towards the issue. None of that is wrong per se but it could have been done much better and concisely if he didn't jump around trying to predict the future and cover technologies that he's clearly not working on first hand and thus creating weaker sections in the book. I probably would've given it a higher rating regardless of my own expectations for a book heavier, being heavier on the science side and work being done in his lab, if it hadn't felt so grating to have it jump around so much, have him pushing himself as some predictor of the future, and having him only superficially address concerns with what he wants to do. I also would probably have given this a better rating if it weren't filled with so many anecdotes and name dropping so many people who I also don't care about. I think its great that people are accomplished and they're very impressive people etc but just giving me names and one sentence descriptions of what people are working on is useless for my own purposes.

Anyway this is 2.5 stars from me, this might be a good read for someone else but as someone with more of a science background who wants to read books on research that are rigorous and more heavily focused on the research itself, which actually goes over things like limitations of said research in a more thorough fashion, this didn't appeal to me at all. I don't enjoy people predicting the future either, regardless of how much merit those predictions have and how often that person is right, because the future isn't set and is shaped by decisions we make today and I'd much rather here how people themselves are working to shape it and why they think we should work to shape it that way. Just people espousing what is and isn't possible isn't really appealing to me because I already am open to trying things out and I would much rather they saving their persuasion for others. Also I wanted Sinclair to talk about the science, if I wanted to political theory I would go to other sources, nothing is worse than high profile people, especially thought leaders, worrying about things like the far right and left and polarization. Like everyone's entitled to their opinions on it but write a separate book or something. You don't see me begrudging Pinker for being annoying about it and I simply choose not to pick up his book because I know it'll annoy me with its framing.

I know I should just stop but also this isn't the reason I rated it 2.5 stars because halfway through when he was talking about research I was probably at 3.5-4 stars rating wise but man as someone with a fundamentally surly temperament there's nothing more annoying than people who insist we need to be optimistic. Like yeah things are getting better but who cares, how is it useful to focus on that instead of problems and addressing them. Like maybe I just don't care enough about feeling good about things and so this just wouldn't appeal to me anyway.

Also Sinclair said he isn't afraid to die at the end of the book but insists through out the book that death is painful and horrible. Sinclair needs to read about Montaigne's experience with death and how it changed his fears of death by showing him actually its not bad. I also have almost died and can also attest that when it's happening it isn't painful at all, it just happens and in fact at points you feel euphoric even. I'm going to leave it at that because my own feelings of death weren't really relevant to how I felt about the book in general.

Anyways TL;DR: this was 2.5 stars because I was expecting a book that was heavier on covering the science in this area and because the last 100 pages pissed me off. Others may enjoy it if they go in knowing what to expect and have less curmudgeonly personalities. ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Katie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, science

If I am being honest, I expected more from a 400+ page book written by one of the leaders in longevity. It is well written and the illustrations are lovely, but the information on extending healthspan could be summarized in a paragraph. I was also disappointed in how shallow some of the explanations were. I was hoping for an substantive monograph written for the lay person (like Zimmer’s work) but this is not that.

So then what is taking up the bulk of these 400+ pages?
Anecdotes, personal backgro ...more

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Sep 03, 2020 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-biology, 0-mental-strength

Immortality sounds... nice. Too utopic, still, but prolonging life for spans that seem unimaginable at the moment may be a standard procedure in a not so far future.

Sinclair, a professor of genetics and expert in the field of the science of aging from the Harvard medical school, summarizes the status quo of how to stay young and healthy as long as possible.

At the moment, the way to a longer life is a pretty hard one, focussing on some elemental and prooven elements:
Workout for both strength and ...more

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Oct 03, 2019 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Being part of the health enhancement community for my entire career I was familiar with the topics and theories on aging as presented by Havard Med School staffer Dr. David Sinclair.

Many of Dr. Sinclair's recommendations such as calorie restriction (CR), exercise, sleep and moderate to low protein intake are well vetted.

Other suggestions including the intake of NAD, Metformin, and Rapamycin MAY have anti-aging effects but are less well known and have potential downsides.

Since living long sound ...more

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Sep 20, 2019 Mario Tomic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Coming from a perspective of someone who studies evidence-based nutrition, exercise, and healthy lifestyle factors for over a decade now, this book is a must-read.

Solving aging is one of the final frontiers for humankind, and the information David has provided here is a big step in the right direction. It has the power to bring more awareness to solving aging as well as shift strong limiting beliefs that have been deeply rooted in public as well as the scientific community.

We've come very far in ...more

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Jul 25, 2021 Bharath rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a fascinating book covering the latest advances (including from his lab at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and others) in ageing research.

Dr Sinclair starts by discussing our attitudes towards ageing – most people think of it as inevitable. As a result, while many serious diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, dementia and others have received considerable funding, ageing still continues to receive a small fraction of that. Also, grants awarded to ageing are often used up for res This is a fascinating book covering the latest advances (including from his lab at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and others) in ageing research.

Dr Sinclair starts by discussing our attitudes towards ageing – most people think of it as inevitable. As a result, while many serious diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, dementia and others have received considerable funding, ageing still continues to receive a small fraction of that. Also, grants awarded to ageing are often used up for research into diseases more prevalent typically in old age (such as dementia), rather than ageing itself. The fact though is that ageing leaves you more susceptible to many diseases and also invariably affects quality of life for many. The advances in medicine have improved the average age by greatly reducing early deaths and fighting diseases. Humankind has so far however not been able to raise the maximum age – very few make it past 100.

Ageing need not be considered inevitable says Dr Sinclair, and should rightfully be declared a disease. There is now a reasonably good understanding of why we age. While side effects such as telomere shortening were known since some time, the underlying cause may be simpler and more focused. It is the result of the survival circuit (which all organisms have) being unable to cope with increasing damage which can no longer be repaired. Research is reaching a point where this can be arrested – in a few years. Even if medical intervention to significantly increase lifespan is years out – there is a lot we can do even today. There is evidence that intermittent fasting, exercise (such as yoga and some strenuous), a careful diet plan (lots of veggies, nuts avoiding meat, processed foods, dairy & sugar) and some already available medication (the evidence though is not fully conclusive) can do a lot to extend lifespan. He also cites his personal example and that of his father, who remains active well into his eighties. I looked at some of his photos and he certainly looks well younger than his age of 50+!

The last section covers what we can expect in the future and the impact of arresting ageing on society and nations. This section is unnecessarily longer than required, and goes into some simplistic ethical discussions (as expected steering clear of the speciesism and animal cruelty rampant in medical research).

This is an excellent and very readable book which I strongly recommend all read. If you are looking for detailed diet information ‘How Not to Die’ is an excellent book. ‘Brain Food’, ‘The Diabetes Code’, and ‘The Case against Sugar’ are informational reads as well. There may be some amount of information which will seem contradictory but it is not difficult to resolve it to make a decision.

My rating: 4.5 / 5. ...more

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Sep 17, 2019 G rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The book consists of 1) a history of aging and longevity related science, 2) a a handwavey survey of some interesting metabolic pathways and genetic/epigenetic programming techniques that Prof. Sinclair and friends have pursued, 3.) philosophical, aesthetic, and moral arguments on why pursuing lifespan extension is good.

It's well-written and I enjoyed Prof. Sinclair's distinctive writing style and purview. I learned a bit on what papers and authors I should read more deeply for Parts (1) and (2) ...more

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Feb 26, 2020 Henry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Highly recommended. There is a lot of complicated science in this book (at least to me), but there are ideas and views that cannot be ignored. You may not agree with everything the author espouses, particularly some of his political views, but this book provides a lot of important things to think about and, if you are so inclined, to discuss with others. Providing thought provoking ideas is always good.

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Mar 17, 2020 Shaun rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2020, health-coaching, non-fiction

This is an intriguing book written by the renowned Harvard researcher, David Sinclair.

Sinclair believes that our attitudes about the inevitability of aging may be somewhat flawed. In fact, based on his research, he believes that not only will we be able to slow aging down, we may someday be able to reverse it.

He discusses the shortcomings of aging research that is partly a function of the fact that we don't currently classify aging as a chronic disease, thereby making its research ineligible fo ...more

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Jul 20, 2019 Elise rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I read this for work and while the science/DNA-level detail in the front part is pretty dense, the book really opens up when he writes about the possibility for treating aging as a disease and all the things that currently kill us (heart disease, cancers) as its symptoms. And then the social impacts of society living much, much longer than we currently do. I am now operating as if I will live to 100, and we're talking GOOD years, not wasting away. So this book has really changed the way I think ...more

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Oct 04, 2019 Bejinha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

The book is 99% of personal anecdotes, tedious and lengthy lab studies, descriptions of yeast cells, government funding, and epigenetics.

And 1% on how you should:

• exclude animal proteins
• exclude sugar
• exclude dairy
• eat a lot less of everything else (calorie restriction).

I'm following it. ...more

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Dec 23, 2019 Flaviu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have a feeling this will be a long review, so if you're just looking for some cliff-notes then mine are: "This book has the potential to change the way you live your life. You might not enjoy reading it (*1), but the topic it addresses will definitely affect you personally. Whether it's right after reading it (*2), or at a societal level in the years to come, that's up to you."

Now for the long version...

My previous knowledge of David Sinclair was from his visits to JRE podcast, where I found ...more

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Oct 20, 2019 Marios rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Absolutely fascinating read about the past (what we know), present (what we are learning) and future (where we are going) of the anti-aging science research. Along with “Why we Sleep” of Matthew Walker this is another of those fundamental books one should read. Actually I can’t help but imagine future generations looking back in our times and wondering how were people going about their lives without learning about or caring to understand longevity factors such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, ment Absolutely fascinating read about the past (what we know), present (what we are learning) and future (where we are going) of the anti-aging science research. Along with “Why we Sleep” of Matthew Walker this is another of those fundamental books one should read. Actually I can’t help but imagine future generations looking back in our times and wondering how were people going about their lives without learning about or caring to understand longevity factors such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental health, preventive health checks, body monitoring etc.

Returning to the book, apart from providing a general background of how our bodies work on the molecular (DNA, RNA, proteins) and cellular level, the author proposes the hypothesis that aging is a result of a loss of information. This theory suggests that over time our cells loose the ability to accurately “read” the genetic information which remains always intactly stored into our DNA (this genetic information is what tells the cell what to be and how to behave), resulting in malfunction, loss of cellular identity or death, which manifests as the symptoms and diseases we all associate with aging.

If this hypothesis proves correct (and there are many experiments that support it), if we could eventually prevent, slow or even reverse this information loss, it follows that could directly target the origins and cure all symptoms and diseases of aging at once, instead of trying to find treatments for each individual disease (ie. cardiovascular, dementia etc) as scientists have been trying to do until now. It is plausible that in the future we could regenerate and reverse the age in tissue (this works already in mice), or restore our overall health and vitality to the levels of a 20 or 30 year old on demand.

How could that happen? Without giving out more fascinating research and experiments referenced in the book, this is one of the best talks of the author I found online summarizing his theory: https://youtu.be/9nXop2lLDa4

Then, what could you do today to help your body slow the aging process?

The author takes 1g of NMN every morning + 0,5-1 g of resveratrol powder with yoghurt to raise his NAD levels. These can be found over the counter.
He also takes 1 g of metformin in the night (needs prescription).
He checks his blood regularly and supplements with vitamin D, K2 and 83mg of aspirin.
Eats as few carbohydrates (sugar, pasta, breads) as possible.
Usually skips one meal per day or makes a meal smaller.
Tries to walk, go to gym, sauna, ice cold pool and keep a low BMI.
Doesn’t smoke, avoids toxins, excessive radiation and other common sense damaging factors.

And what should you do?

If you are under 30 or even maybe 40, I would probably avoid the supplements. There are no long term studies of the effects of the NMN and no human studies. On the other hand, in short term or animal studies no toxicity or side effects have been demonstrated and many anti-aging researchers allegedly take it. If I was older I would probably give it a shot and I actually intend to experiment with my parents with NR (similar to NMN and tested in human trials).

Of course science has the annoying habit of regularly disproving theories and crashing dreams, but until that happens I look forward to a future of scientific revolutions and increased lifespan and healthspan. ...more

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Sep 18, 2019 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've been following David Sinclair's research into aging for many years, and this book is a great summary of his work and that of others, where the field of aging research is headed, and what we can expect. Dr. Sinclair is and has always been an optimist. I'm an optimist too, so that's fine by me. While he isn't a medical doctor and can't give medical advice, he discusses supplements he takes and lifestyle choices he makes that he feels are helping him and his own family too, including his 80-ye ...more

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Sep 22, 2019 Mike Lisanke rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book could have been excellent... I am a true fan of life extension and the author Dr. Sinclair as an obvious insight in the current state of art in the biochemistry of life extension. He gave an excellent introduction to many detailed topics in this biochemistry: sirtuins, NMN, mTOR, and DNA mods to test repair effect on ageing... mention of Metformin, Resveratrol and the search for other potential triggers of sirtuins repair... potential for a genetic reset button and adding this to our D This book could have been excellent... I am a true fan of life extension and the author Dr. Sinclair as an obvious insight in the current state of art in the biochemistry of life extension. He gave an excellent introduction to many detailed topics in this biochemistry: sirtuins, NMN, mTOR, and DNA mods to test repair effect on ageing... mention of Metformin, Resveratrol and the search for other potential triggers of sirtuins repair... potential for a genetic reset button and adding this to our DNA with a one time CRISPR change (and tiny flu)... All this and many more stories of the biology of life extension.
Then, starting near the middle of the book, a constant drone of libidiotic SJC PC that came to pervade the entire story, building to an almost overwhelming crescendo in part 3 of the book... where he launches into an almost inexplicable exercise in Why we shouldn't extend human longevity. OK, it's a rational part of any life extension story to answer the Malthusian, limits of growth, constraints of Earthly resources... in the end, like myself, the author Believes technology will achieve the necessary changes to sustain humanity (as I do)... but along way, preaches at US about how Australia and the EU's socialism is the answer And how humanity Will Have to Be Taught how to live within our Earthly resources.... yes, folks another affluent Communist in the making. Along with the usual references to "well-known" anthropocene extinction, man-made climate alarmism, and negativity to animal based foods was a wide-assortment of liberal+progressive agenda including identity politics.
In all, this author Had an Opportunity to do some Solid informing about Longevity Research. It could have been a 300 page tome on the intricacies of these longevity mechanism of our human bodies (something he's an expert on)... instead, we were treated to half a book full of #MSM platitude from our current overlords on how will need to Sacrifice to Save our Planet... Clearly, this will become another popular possibly Best Seller for hitting all of the Politically Correct buttons all good little unthinking members of humanity have been told to believe!
I hope this review at least amuses someone! I would buy and read the book Only for its good description of human longevity biochemistry. ...more

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Sep 21, 2019 Cain S. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Within our lifetimes many will be able to live longer than 120 years, while enjoying at age 80-90 the health of 30-40 year olds.

Gene therapies that can reverse organ damage, like macular degeneration, and get rid of senescent cells, which increase with age and cause the various illnesses of old age, are already proving to be successful in the lab.

We will be able to program genes in a way that makes humans immune to most fatal diseases. A Chinese doctor has already gene edited a girl who is immu ...more

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Sep 18, 2019 Jackie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The authors have written an excellent book on a subject that affects everyone. It's not too technical and has personal stories to make you really think about treating aging as a disease. It was a very enjoyable read. ...more

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Feb 20, 2021 Myles rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I found the writing very american and quite self absorbed, but I really liked the message and ideas that sinclair puts forward. It's a very optimistic look at the future of healthcare and one I'd like to see happen! ...more

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Sep 15, 2019 Jack Kresa-Reid rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand the hallmarks of ageing and how to manage them.

Understandable and well-communicated science underpinning human longevity. David wrote it in a way a layman like myself could easily understand. The book lays down the existing science. Past (what we know) and moves to where we are now. Present. (what we are learning). Then moves through to where we are going (future - breakthrough science) and this is where it starts to get really existing.

The fu ...more

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Nov 27, 2019 Dan Connors rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019-books

How would you feel about living an extra thirty years? And how about if those years were relatively disease-free and healthy ones? If everybody lived that extra thirty or more years, would that necessarily be a good thing? What would happen to families, work, and society with double the elderly population as today?

These questions and more are examined in this fascinating book by Dr. David Sinclair, one of the leading experts on aging and founder of a prestigious laboratory at Harvard Universi ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 May Ling rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: health-welness

Summary: He's dedicated his life to studying this. A lot of good info. One-star off b/c I think his direction of inquiry is a little disjointed in spots. I think that's the fault of the way research is set up and not the author though. The other star has to do with fact presentation.

I saw Sinclair on a show on Netflix and thought, hey! Let me read this guy's book. He seems to know a lot. And that is true! The writing style of this book is very approachable for a science book.

The early part of t ...more

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Mar 18, 2021 Lukasz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audiobook, 2021

I loved it. A great insight into the science of aging and the newest discoveries.

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Mar 25, 2022 Milan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: health, non-fiction, science

Dr. David Sinclair is a scientist, researching aging in humans. He says “I believe that aging is a disease. I believe it is treatable." This is something my mother has always said and she was happy to know that the scientific community is finally taking aging seriously.

This book covers the latest advances in the field of ageing research. The reason we age is due to the loss or damage of genetic information in our cells. “Aging, quite simply, is a loss of information.” To put it simply, when we Dr. David Sinclair is a scientist, researching aging in humans. He says “I believe that aging is a disease. I believe it is treatable." This is something my mother has always said and she was happy to know that the scientific community is finally taking aging seriously.

This book covers the latest advances in the field of ageing research. The reason we age is due to the loss or damage of genetic information in our cells. “Aging, quite simply, is a loss of information.” To put it simply, when we age, our DNA gets unraveled and our cells lose their uniqueness and get in the way of other normal functioning cells. This results in inflammation and diseases.

We have added years to our lives but not healthy years. He says, “As a species, we are living much longer than ever. But not much better. Not at all. Over the past century we have gained additional years, but not additional life—not life worth living anyway.”

He works on longevity genes called “sirtuins" and a complex protein that regulates growth and metabolism called "mTOR" in mammals. "Like the sirtuins, mTOR can signal cells in stress to hunker down and improve survival by boosting such activities as DNA repair, reducing inflammation caused by senescent cells, and, perhaps its most important function, digesting old proteins.”

"There are plenty of stressors that will activate longevity genes without damaging the cell, including certain types of exercise, intermittent fasting, low-protein diets, and exposure to hot and cold temperatures."

His prescription for fighting aging is: skipping a meal a day, a mostly plant based with least amount of sugar, exercise, stress management, keeping your weight in check, cold therapy and vitamins. The supplements he suggests for slowing down and even reversing aging are NMN, resveratrol and metformin - one of them is a prescription drug and the other two are not very well-known.

The book is interspersed with personal history and anecdotes, which is okay. The weak part of the book is when he tries to go into economics, policy-making, ethics, global-warming, etc. He is writing about these topics quite casually. The idea that I liked was suggested by environmental writer and activist, George Monbiot - "The problem isn’t population; it is consumption."

The science in this book is quite fascinating. The research into aging shows us a glimpse into the future. Some of this experimentation will pan out in a beneficial way and some will not and only some of it will be approved. Some part of it will be accepted by society and become commonplace in the next decade or so. Till then, “Eat fewer calories,” “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” and “Exercise.” ...more

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May 07, 2020 David Jones rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Kindle tells me I made 281 highlights, there is many, many gems and aha-moments here. I had a soft spot for the book because he begins and ends the book with an emotional connection to Garigal National Park of which I spent a lot of time in and around - I definitely also have an admiration bias of "local boy done good". Despite being at Harvard (down the corridor from legend George Church) he appears to retain connection to labs in Australia - which is great.

For me, there 3 main 3 thesis:
1. Agin Kindle tells me I made 281 highlights, there is many, many gems and aha-moments here. I had a soft spot for the book because he begins and ends the book with an emotional connection to Garigal National Park of which I spent a lot of time in and around - I definitely also have an admiration bias of "local boy done good". Despite being at Harvard (down the corridor from legend George Church) he appears to retain connection to labs in Australia - which is great.

For me, there 3 main 3 thesis:
1. Aging is not defined as a disease just because >50% people have it. This is wrong view.
2. Aging is epigenetic and can be modified. Genetics also will soon also be modifiable too.
3. People will soon meet their grandchildren's grandchildren

This has huge ramifications on society preset biases to old people and economics. If someone retires at 60 (paying taxes for 40 years) and then collects a social security pension for 60 years - how does a society support that monetarily. More importantly how does such a person sustain purpose? The book touches on these things but it's a huge topic (many books will be written on this).

Sinclair reset my thinking that "life extension is for narcissists" - the big epiphany is that his studies show that mice who live longer die quick at the end. For humans this potentially means elimination of months or years in public health systems at high expense to family or society. The old joke about "digging your own grave and falling in it" sound very attractive.

Its a highly educational read, designed for mortals and muggles** to read, so it's not intimidating. Recommended much as this will definitely happen - if you are under 50 now, its extremely likely you will live to 120, so better plan that in!

Major quibble: Similar to my review of the Diamandis book, I don't agree that tech-is-the-solution-to-all-the world's-problems without some moral or wisdom framework to protect the commons. There is a vignette where the author bemoans:

Page 288: "The text of the ruling makes it clear that it was not a decision to protect consumers from the dangers of GMO; it was part of a global trade war to prevent US-patented products from entering the European Union."
and
Page 288: "It’s ultimately hurtful to everyone on the planet to use the cover of “dangerous science” to justify trade restrictions, especially to those who need the new technology most."

Sinclair (being an inventor) would side with patent holders, but the damaging impact of patents (a key GameA tool) would hold those EU farmers to ransom for generations to come. Change that and innovation can deployed in a manner that serves planetary wellbeing.

** Minor quibble: Being an old engineer his analogy of Shannon's law is opportunistic but could be achieved by other metaphors (such as environmental corrosion). ...more

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Jan 12, 2020 فادي زغموت rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Almost done reading "Lifespan: Why we age and why we don't have to" by David Sinclair and I am pleased with what I read. This might contain spoilers.

At first glance one would look at the book cover and say it is a tall order. Not knowing who is David Sinclair, one would assume that this best selling book is another hocus self-help or motivational book. But once you start reading, you'd get to realize that this is the real thing. David has a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and is a researcher at Harv Almost done reading "Lifespan: Why we age and why we don't have to" by David Sinclair and I am pleased with what I read. This might contain spoilers.

At first glance one would look at the book cover and say it is a tall order. Not knowing who is David Sinclair, one would assume that this best selling book is another hocus self-help or motivational book. But once you start reading, you'd get to realize that this is the real thing. David has a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and is a researcher at Harvard Medical School. He has been working on genetic researches related to aging for many years and is well aware of the scientific advancements in that regards on almost all fronts.

The book starts with a focus on biochemistry and an outline of recent medical achievements in prolonging the lives of other living things along with researches results on human beings. The first chapters are tough to read for non medical readers but it gets better in the following chapters when David outlines his recommendations for everyone on what to do to slow down aging and potentially halt/reverse it. He goes on later in the book into addressing some societal and philosophical concerns on the effects of longer human lifespans on the way we carry on and perceive our lives.

Towards the end, he goes back to his lab at Harvard medical school, mentions many of his colleagues who are working on aging researches at different fronts. Some of whom are prominent scientists and Nobel prize winners. He lists many breakthroughs that happened in recent years and highlights the fact that all the incredible achievements he mentions in this chapter have only happened in one lab, whereas there are many of other labs, researchers and scientists working on tackling this issue all over the world.

I loved that he uses the word "army" where he says that there is an army of thousands of researchers all over the world working on understanding aging and potentially expanding healthy human lifespan to levels we have never imagined before.

The question today is not about "can we defeat aging?", it is more about "how we do it? " and "when will it happen?". It is like having a million pieces jigsaw puzzle with a 100K people trying to put pieces together. We will do it, and hopefully sooner than we expect.

Loving it! ...more

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Jan 18, 2020 Liene rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was an interesting book that should have been an article. It was repetitive in some places and some parts seemed completely unnecessary – do we really need a science book telling us that we could live longer by eating healthy and exercising? The most memorable part – the author is disappointed and surprised by the fact that the younger generation feels pessimistic about the future; on this he quoted his teenage son who said that allowing people to live longer would only give them more oppor ...more

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Oct 06, 2019 Sergio Alonso De Leon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I have been following David Sinclair for a while in interviews podcasts and so, and I had incredibly high expectations on this book. From a science point of view, there is no huge discovery, the recommendations are basically metformin, NMN and a couple of other things. The book is impregnated with Sinclairs optimism and, more precesily, life satisfaction. He is a really nice person, beyond with intellect. What he says still sounds science fiction, and probably not all what he claims will happen, ...more

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Dec 14, 2019 Pap Lőrinc rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Many studies focus on the so-called blue zones, i.e. where people live longer than average.
Most people associated it with their eating habits - this book attributes the lifespan (and healthspan) to what (and when) they're *NOT* eating (via negativa).
This is a prime example for all the confusion we're bombarded about nutrition: every "study" has an equal, opposite "study" (mostly observational ones, obviously), and we didn't even care to look for what's missing (since it's always easier to just c Many studies focus on the so-called blue zones, i.e. where people live longer than average.
Most people associated it with their eating habits - this book attributes the lifespan (and healthspan) to what (and when) they're *NOT* eating (via negativa).
This is a prime example for all the confusion we're bombarded about nutrition: every "study" has an equal, opposite "study" (mostly observational ones, obviously), and we didn't even care to look for what's missing (since it's always easier to just check for presence of anything).

Aging is a disease - the book claims -, it's not something pre-programmed in your genes, it's something that can be induced, stabilized and sometimes even reversed.
It's a loss of information in our epigenome which makes our cellular repair mechanisms perform worse over time - cells starting to lose their identity.

While we're waiting for the fountain of youth to go on the market (the book claims we may already have some of these drugs OTC), there may be something we can already do today to allow autophagy to lessen cellular senescence.
Unlike what pop culture dictates, it's not less stress, it's actually more and different kind of adversity (the stoics rejoice) that enables cleanup and repair:
• be hungry more often - skip breakfast, fast periodically for longer periods, get lean;
• avoid excessive carbs (sugar, pasta, breads) and processed oils and -foods in general;
• do resistance training - lift weights, get some muscles;
• experience cold, warm and other stressors regularly.

Many of these claims have been based on animal studies, they had measurable effects on their health and lifespan, and there's some anecdotal evidence in humans - in a few decades we may have proper human trials and gene sequencing that will tell us specifically what makes us tick, but I for one want to start acting NOW.

While reading the book I found myself wondering how an average lifespan of 120 or 150 would affect society - luckily the book also details these in dedicated chapters.
Whenever we think the Earth cannot support more people we underestimate the ingenuity of people - haven't we been expanding that limit for centuries? Historically population growth has always eventually been associated with improved life conditions.
Prolonged life would probably result in people caring more about the future, not less.
Just like in Factfulness, the author doesn't rely on fear-mongering (a tactic I profoundly despise) as a means to achieving a better world, rather an optimistic one, gathering historical precedence for times when we collectively overcame the limitations of our surroundings - finding solutions instead of excuses. ...more

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Nov 13, 2019 Ginger Hudock rated it liked it · review of another edition

The title and subtitle of this book would imply that this is a "how to" book about aging and steps that can be taken to slow down the process. Instead this book goes deeply into the biological and genetic processes of aging and the research that has been done on aging. I am a nutritionist and so am somewhat familiar with human physiology. This book was too complex for me and I think would be too complex for the average lay person interested in health.
There are no "how to" steps in the book othe ...more

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Aug 31, 2020 Deema Besiso rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book is based on years of research to extend the health span of humans not just the life span, it has been done to mice in the lab before, so we can anticipate an increase in the human life span by implementing these ideas in the near future.

There is no magical bill for longevity and vitality, but Dr. Sinclair claims that the use of NMN, resveratrol and metformin can be beneficial at the DNA level. In addition, following a healthy lifestyle is a key Ingredient to stay younger and healthier ...more

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About David A. Sinclair

David A. Sinclair

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David Sinclair is a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, where he and his colleagues study sirtuins—protein-modifying enzymes that respond to changing NAD+ levels and to caloric restriction—as well as chromatin, energy metabolism, mitochondria, learning and memory, neurodegeneration, cancer, and cell ...more

Books by David A. Sinclair

Lifespan / The Telomere Effect / How Not To Die

Lifespan Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To / 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos

Longevità. Perché invecchiamo e perché non dobbiamo farlo

Lifespan Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To / The Rise of Superman

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