Description
Product Description
This gripping narrative explores today's scientific pursuit of immortality, with exclusive visits inside Silicon Valley labs and interviews with the visionaries who believe we will soon crack into the aging process and cure death.
We live in an age when billionaires are betting their fortunes on laboratory advances to prove aging unnecessary and death a disease that can be cured. Researchers are delving into the mysteries of stem cells and the human genome, discovering what it means to grow old and how to keep those processes from happening. This isn't science fiction; it's real, it's serious, and it's on track to revolutionize our definitions of life and mortality.
In
Immortality, Inc., veteran science journalist Chip Walter gains exclusive access to the champions of this radical cause, delivering a book that brings together for the first time the visions of molecular biologist and Apple chairman Arthur Levinson, genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter, futurist Ray Kurzweil, rejuvenation trailblazer Aubrey de Grey, and stem cell expert Robert Hariri. Along the way, Walter weaves in fascinating conversations about life, death, aging, and the future of the human race.
Review
“Artificial intelligence is being heralded as the next big thing, but a cluster of scientists, technologists and investors are aiming higher. In the vernacular of Silicon Valley, where many of them are based, their goal is nothing less than disrupting death, and their story is at the center of “Immortality, Inc.” by science journalist Chip Walter…While “Immortality, Inc.” is focused on aging and the efforts to defy it, the book is also a gripping chronicle of private-sector experimentation and ingenuity in the face of inertia in Washington…An end to aging? Ponce de León would have been impressed.”—
Wall Street Journal
"His fascinating account will interest those who want to know more about Silicon Valley’s rainmakers, as well as where science now stands on preventing and curing disease.”
–Publishers Weekly
“Chip Walter’s new book is a deep dive into the very real efforts of Silicon Valley-funded scientists to develop therapies that might aid humans in living for hundreds of years and eventually in perpetuity. If Walter’s book is right, humanity may soon strike a profound blow against an adversary that so far still has a perfect record. The same people who disrupted media, commerce, transportation, entertainment, relationships and countless other sectors are now poised to disrupt the Big Sleep.” –San Jose Metroactive
“Chip Walter has written an extraordinary book. What a cast. What a story. What a book.”
--William Shatner
“Can we live forever? Maybe, maybe not. But either way, you’ll love the book. More than anything, Walter is a first rate story teller. He walks a fine line, delivering excellent science while mesmerizing you with the nitty gritty details behind the histories and personal stories of the book’s main characters. And at bottom are big and universal questions. You’ll never see the question of our mortality in quite the same way after reading this book. And you’ll never be bored.” - Judy Cameron, Professor and Director of the Healthy Brain Aging Workgroup, University of Pittsburgh
“The quest to conquer aging is one of the most extraordinary developments in science today. We may not live to see the end of it, but we can watch the beginning.
Immortality, Inc. is a colorful, entertaining, and up-to-date tour of the frontier.” –Jonathan Weiner, [Pulitzer Prize–winning] author of
The Beak of the Finch and
Long for This World
“If you think everybody talks about immortality but few do anything about it, Chip Walter's bold examination of those who do is worth the read.”—Herbert Boyer, co-founder of Genentech, Inc., and professor emeritus, University of California–San Francisco
When future generations find themselves living in a world where life spans reach hundreds of years, readers can look back at Walter’s bo