I have to admit, I did not know who David Sinclair was until recently. Then in the summer and fall of last year when this book was being released, he started making the promotional rounds including a few of the podcasts of people who I follow and trust. This put him on my radar screen. Then when I had lay people, like my wife’s co-workers who know about my longevity goals asking if I was going to read it, I knew I had to order it. I had a backlog of books to read, so it only got to the top of my list recently. I decided to bring it along on a beach vacation and thought I could get a good start on it. Boy, was I wrong! I absolutely devoured it. I couldn’t put it down, and including making notes and high-lighting parts of the book, I finished it in a week, and I am not a fast reader.  

The secondary title of the book is “Why We Age -And Why We Don’t Have To”, and that is exactly what this book is all about in a nut shell.

The book is split into three main sections.

The first is called: What we Know or the Past. This covers the history of how humans came to be, the science and notions that developed on aging and disease, application of science to animal models and finally a great chapter, which the author titles “The Blind Epidemic”. This chapter discusses the cumulative effect of various factors, conditions, diseases that effect our aging and how one needs to look at the cumulative and not one single factor.

The second section of the book is titled: What We’re Learning or the Present. This is the part of the book that details where we are currently with the science of Longevity and the tips to achieve that goal. Things such as; Eat Less without Malnutrition, Managing your Amino Acid Profile, Exercising in the Right Dose, Cold Exposure, Avoiding Dangerous Chemicals and Avoiding Radiation. These are all things I work on with my clients.

Then the discussion moves onto some of the more promising drugs or compounds for longevity. The types of cells (including stem cells), and how they react over time is also detailed. This section of the book ends off with discussing various medical system models and how they will need to change to keep up with what we are learning about aging and longevity.

The third main section of the book is titled: Where We’re Going or the Future. The first couple pages details how some of the concepts/ treatments discussed earlier can really start to add up when combined and make being a centenarian (my personal goal and some of my clients) very achievable.

I greatly appreciated how throughout the book the author described how the various systems and pathways in the body were affected by the topic he was discussing.

The book then turns and does a good job of detailing the issues we as mankind will need to overcome if a significant part of the population starts living 20, 30, 40, 50 years longer. Things like food production/ consumption, political systems, government assistance programs, fertility and population growth, pollution and other world resources. Human kind needs to realize that the future is not someone else’s concern.

The medical system and research dollars are discussed again, in that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the approach and treatment of aging. I agree with the author “that there is no cheaper way to address the healthcare crisis than to address aging at its core”.

In the conclusion, David Sinclair provides what he is doing for longevity as of the publishing of this book. Most of which I agree with and follow myself.

I also truly appreciate the robust sourcing of the studies mentioned in the book as well as the glossary of scientific terms and key people mentioned.

This was a very high-level overview of the book; and it has currently moved to the top of my list for Longevity books. If you are serious about pushing the boundaries of your own Longevity, read this book or contact me and I would be happy to discuss with you.