Publisher's Synopsis
The writing is vivid ... A great intro to the topic ... Those looking to get started on living forever would do well to begin here. - Publishers Weekly
As longevity medicine revolutionizes the lives of many older people, the quest to take the next step-to live as long as we choose - has spurred a scientific arms race in search of the elixir of life. Once the stuff of Mesopotamian mythology and episodes of Star Trek, as the pace of technological progress quickens, proposals to make humans immortal are becoming increasingly credible. It has also empowered a wild-eyed fringe of pseudo-scientists, tech visionaries, scam-artists, and religious fanatics who have given their lives to the pursuit of immortality.
Peter Ward's offbeat and deeply reported exploration of the current state of the race for immortality and an attempt to sort the swindlers from the scientists, while also analysing the potentially devastating consequences should humanity realize its ultimate dream.
Starting off at the Church of Perpetual Life in Florida and exploring the strange feuding subcultures around the nascent cryonics industry that first emerged in the wake of World War II, Ward hurls himself head first into an eccentric world of start-ups, scientific institutions, and life-extension conferences, in order to find out if immortality is within our grasp, and what the cost might be if we choose to take what some people think is the next step in human evolution.
An intriguing investigation into a subculture perfectly suited to these end times. Sylvia Nasar, author, A Beautiful Mind
Transhumanism might seem like a fringe movement, but it sheds an unexpected light on hopes, fears, and longings at the very centre of our culture. With its engaging mixture of history and first-hand reportage, this fascinating book--informative, melancholy, and darkly funny--is hugely relevant to our current moment, and its insights into the cost of enacting science fiction in real life couldn't have come at a better time. - Alec Nevala-Lee, author of Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and The Golden Age of Science Fiction
