I was going through some boxes of "old" books when I came across The Quest for Immortality by S. J. Olshansky and B. A. Carnes. (2001). Since this has not been reviewed in this forum I thought I would share my views on this book with you.
For those not familiar with Olshansky, he is one of the three authors (along with Hayflick and Carnes) of the famous/infamous essay in Scientific American, No Truth to the Fountain of Youth which was co-signed by 51 researchers including Aubrey de Grey (!). This article set out to make a stand against the information in the public domain which suggested that it was possible to interfere with the aging process. Whilst it was important to do this in the context of the snake oil peddlers out there it also tended to have an effect of throwing the baby out with the bathwater since it invalidated every single possible intervention in existence which is factually untrue (if you wish to debate this point with me be my guest).
Back to the book: This is a fine book to read if you are interested in the views of two scientists who specialize in epidimiology with a very conservative view of what can be done about aging (nothing) written in an easy style and interspersed with the occasional interesting fact. It contains very layman-palatable versions of the usual topics but the tone of the book is not to waste your time with any of the claims of a cure for aging for sale (sensible advice) and that information reported in "tabloid science" contains nothing but false hope and misinformation (debatable and subject to the "tabloid").
On the other hand there are some misinformational whoppers by the authors themselves such as in page 155 (2001 soft-back edition) where they write in reference to the augmentation of genes in protecting nuclear DNA from damage, that, "even if substances like those produced by the body could be developed, getting them to the site where the genetic damage occurs (inside the nucleus of the cell where DNA is located) remains an unsolved technical problem". Wrong on two counts, firstly we do not need to develop any special substances as they already exist and we only need to increase their presence and secondly exogenous proteins with nuclear localization sequences have been shown to find their way inside the nucleus very nicely thank you.
Olshansky received a doctorate in sociology in 1984 and his specialization is epidemiology and biostatistics. Carnes similarly specializes in biodemography. Their particular focus comes out in the book as does their lack of focus in the necessary cell biology. The book has lashings of undue pessimism and I must say I only enjoyed the first chapter: Death and Immortality: Early Views.
I did come across something I didn't know and that was of interest: a compound designed by the military known as WR-2721 which has DNA protection functions.
All in all a book for those who need to have the belief reinforced that real life extension is only a dream and our destiny as food for worms is carved in stone. Now I know why it was in the box with the "old" books.
