Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To Paperback – September 30, 2019

I knew it would be good, but this book accomplishes explaining very intricate systems and concepts in a way that's understandable and fun, a great read if you're even slightly interested in the topic. This made such an impact that I'm now highly considering entering molecular biology or biotech, five stars all the way through

The first half is quite technical, but still accessible and well written. I liked the touches of humor.

Lifespan: Why We Age – And Why We Don’t Have ToThis is one of the most important books that I’ve read in the past decade. I’ve been excited about scientific progress against aging for the past 40 years, and have been taking supplements of various kinds since I was in my 20’s. David Sinclair’s book details most of the real progress in the field, with the best examples coming rather recently – in the past few years. Sinclair exudes optimism, which matches my own natural tendency.As a narrative, the book succeeds in bringing the reader to an understanding of David’s initial motivation in his field, using the story of his grandmother Vera’s lifelong vitality giving way to decline and, ultimately, death. The reader also gets an historical retracing of the road to knowledge of telomeres, CRSPR, Sirtuins, and cell reprogramming. Did you know that there were sharks that have had life spans measured to have exceeded 500 years?Twice, while in bed reading the book late at night, I bolted upright when a new fact was revealed. The first wake-up was an anecdote in the book about one of Sinclair’s researchers coming to him for help on an issue with the young man’s mother. Seems she had started having menstrual periods again after starting to take a supplement (NMN, I think) that many on David’s research team were taking themselves. Another shock was hearing of the reprogramming of optic tissue cells, using 3 of the 4 activators known to enable an adult cell to become a pluripotent stem cell. The 3 activators were CRSPR’d into the DNA of the receiving tissue, along with an activation mechanism that depends on receiving a certain antibiotic. So, dosage modulated regeneration of Optic nerve tissue was achieved in rats. That fact opens up the possibility of not only slowing or stopping aging, but actually reversing it.The first half of this book covers the history and amazing scientific discoveries, but unfortunately the second half oozes with virtue signaling as it reveals David to be an altruistic collectivist with all manner of political prescriptions he thinks are needed to save humanity from itself – from gun control to climate activism. I suppose it is inevitable that the progressive bubble of an academic environment blinds its inhabitants by disallowing any political disagreement. However, it made me come to question Sinclair’s own scientific rigor. If he hasn’t read of the hiding of temperature data, and suspiciously always lower “adjustments” to past temperature records which is central to the global warming hoax, what alternative aging hypotheses might he be ignoring as well?I dug into this a bit, after remembering that GlaxoSmithKline spent nearly a billion dollars back in 2008 for one of David’s startups working on Sirtuins (Sirtris). Back then, I was hoping that we’d see new anti-aging pharmaceuticals within a decade. Glaxo shut down the unit in 2013. That sounds ominous, right? But, comments on Glaxo’s page say that core researchers were offered positions in other parts of the company, and that Glaxo still thought the Sirtuin drug candidates were valuable.In the book’s “Cast of Characters”, it is stated that Elizabeth Blackburn was “controversially dismissed” from Bush’s Council on Bioethics “allegedly for her advocacy of stem cell research and politics-free scientific inquiry.” What’s missing from this statement is that said advocacy was for “embryonic stem cell research”.Bush’s constituency believed that this meant using human lives (albeit very young lives) for research, and this constituency did not want their tax money to pay for what they considered an immoral act. Again, the book seems to be using the material to make political jabs. Perhaps Dr Sinclair doesn’t realize this, perhaps he does.Much is also made in the book’s second half about trying to guarantee that anti-aging therapies would be made available to all, regardless of cost. I would hope that the examples of pricing in the space, auto, and computer industries show how capitalist countries succeed in bringing costs down for everyone, without government mandates. Space Shuttles used to cost roughly $20,000/kg for orbital flights. SpaceX has brought that cost down to around $2,000/kg. It is still way too expensive for the average American tourist. However, cars were once only affordable to the wealthy. Henry Ford employed capital to force down prices, extending affordability to the middle class.Prices start out high, which enables start-ups to raise capital. Then as volume goes up, unit costs are driven lower by competition. That’s how we got to 256GB USB sticks for $32. I once paid $10,000 for 0.004% of that much space. Drug prices would be driven down faster if the FDA only mandated safety testing, instead of both safety and efficacy. If drugs are guaranteed by the FDA to be safe, then we consumers should be allowed to try anything we want. Companies that want more market share would pay for efficacy trials, the results of which could be used in advertising. Drug development costs/prices might drop by 90% in that kind of market. Sure would cut the wait time for anti-aging therapies.

Of the 34 books I have completed reading this year, this is the best.Pay close attention to the subtitle. Though as we age, it's natural for humans to focus more and more on extending their lives--this book, written by the world-leading authority on aging and what it will take to extend our lives, gives concrete actionable guidance on what you personally can do to increase your life:* It shows the already known value of fasting, in that the act of skipping meals causes the body to switch to a life-extending mode. That means you at the very least skip breakfast. Your goal is to go as long as possible every day without eating.* It shows how the commercially available supplement NMN, a precursor to NAD, can have direct and noticeable effects on one's health and lifespan.* It shows how lots of small effects, such as exposing yourself to extreme cold for brief periods of time also triggers your body's natural life-extending mechanisms. I am not attempting to reproduce a 310-page book. To fully understand, read this book or the many follow on talks given by the same author.Sinclair begins this book by describing the "information theory of aging". Until his theory, the generally accepted idea has been that aging comes when the "digital" information that is held on DNA using the 4 base pairs becomes corrupted through information loss. Sinclair posits that aging is not a result of the corruption of DNA (which the body can fix) but the corruption of the companion to DNA that controls gene expression, the epigenome--which is separate set of chemicals and proteins that GOVERN how the DNA map is used to build proteins. Sinclair shows that it's possible to correct these epigenomic errors. The mechanism for doing this is quite interesting. It has been used to cause a damaged mouse optic nerve to re-grow. Absolutely fascinating and plausible in terms of the science involved.So, I will give you what you came here to see. The author near the end gives his own personal regime for extending his life:* 1,000 MG NMN supplement every morning* 1,000 MG resveratrol every morning* Daily dose Vitamin D, Vitamin K, aspirin* Keep sugar, bread and pasta intake as low as possible.* Allow yourself to be hungry for part of every day. Delay your first meal of the day as late as possible.* Skip one meal a day or at least make it really small. (Try to go as long as possible between eating.)* Lift weights* Expose yourself briefly to extreme cold, because that also triggers your body's survival mechanisms.This was a great and interesting read that I tore through. In no cases did the author make logical fallacies. It was scientifically convincing and legitimate-seeming all through.If you read one book this year--let it be this one. It will show you how to live a longer life.

True insight into what ages us and doesn't. The fasting resetting your aging clock is true I think. People always say I look at least 10 years younger than I am. I think maybe fasting from dinner to noon the next day must have been doing the trick for me without knowing it. I'll have to thank my evil grade school Math teacher who made me so upset, nervous and sick in class (cause I sucked at math and she would humiliate me) that for most of my life after her, I could not eat breakfast before I went to school or college and that continued into my work life though at that point I'd have coffee about 9 and eat about 10 so not quite until noon anymore.