How and Why We Age [Paperback]

Leonard Hayflick Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0345401557 | ISBN-13: 978-0345401557 | Publication Date: January 23, 1996

"How long can humans live? Is immortality possible? Just what is the aging process? The aging and inevitable death of the human body have inspired more myths and outrageous quackery than anything else subject to scientific inquiry. . . . Now comes a most fascinating book, insightful and scholarly, to provide what answers have emerged so far."
--San Francisco Chronicle
Here, at last, preeminent cell biologist Leonard Hayflick presents the truth about human aging. Based on more than thirty years of pioneering research in the field, How and Why We Age explores not only how our major biological systems change as we grow older, but also examines the intangible alterations in our modes of thinking and feeling, our moods and sexual desires, our personality traits and our memories.
With the immediacy of the latest scientific discoveries, Dr. Hayflick explains how aging affects every part of the body, and dispels many of the most persistent aging myths, to show that:
* Hearts do not naturally get weaker with age.
* Regular exercise and a low-fat diet won't slow aging.
* Curing cancer would only add two years to the average sixty-five-year-old American life. Curing heart disease, however would add fourteen years.
* Only five percent of people over the age of sixty-five are in nursing homes
* No human has lived--or probably can live--past 120 years.
Gracefully written, clearly organized, and packed with essential facts and statistics, How and Why We Age is a landmark study of the aging process for readers of all ages.
"Written in clear, nontechnical language, it is an excellent introduction to the scientific and demographic literature on this multifaceted subject."
--Nature

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Hayflick (anatomy, Univ. of California Medical Sch.), a nationally recognized gerontologist with over 30 years' experience in the study of the aging process, presents a cogent response to the question of how and why we age. He not only explores the biological process of aging but also covers such topics as chronological vs. biological aging; longevity, aging, and death; normal aging vs. the myths of aging; demographics; how the human body's systems are affected by aging; theories on aging; attempts to control aging; effects of exercise, nutrition, weight, temperature, and light on longevity; and aging and longevity into the 21st century. The chapters are packed with easily digestible facts, observations, and scientific documentation. To support his statements, he uses reliable data from tested research and reputable statistical sources. This 400-page book should function as a primary resource for gerontologists, health professionals, informed lay readers, and higher education students interested in the process of aging.
Kathy Segrist, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Anatomist Hayflick has researched and lectured on the biology of aging for 30 yearsexperience made evident throughout this book by his broad factual coverage, lucidity, and occasional humor. Hayflick is as interested in exploding myths as he is in pointing out what is scientifically known and what still needs to be done. By discussing the last, he hopes to encourage young people to enter his broad and growing field, in which the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging is the major pertinent program. The primary division in knowledge about aging arises from discriminating between the effects of aging per se and those of disease. Some researchers, Hayflick shows, confound this separation by referring to abnormal aging, which does not exist. Biogerontologists must keep in mind the wide individual variability in aging, Hayflick says, commenting that if you think cancer is complicated, try to understand the aging process. A useful, well-informed treatment. William Beatty --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 23, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345401557
• ISBN-13: 978-0345401557
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mature Approach, September 3, 2006

By 

R. Schultz (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How and Why We Age (Hardcover)

This is the best book on aging I've read. In a lucid, even-handed style, Hayflick discusses the scientific discoveries that have been made about the aging process, and presents the evidence behind a variety of different theories of aging.

This sort of unbiased approach is rare in books on the subject. So many books on aging turn out to be mere commercials for some vitamin regimen or some rejuvenation scheme. But Hayflick isn't selling any lotions, potions, or contraptions - so on most scores, he can be trusted to be more objective.

Hayflick himself is famous for having contributed to discovering that the progressive shortening of the ends of our chromosomes (the telomeres) is associated with cellular aging. However, he doesn't advance telomere research as an exclusive gateway to understanding the aging process. He gives equal time to other theories of aging, such as the theory that it's a simple matter of wear-and-tear.

Hayflick even goes back to basics and discusses whether or not we actually are living longer than our ancestors, or whether we just seem to be because of a decline in infant mortality. He also offers clues to aging from the varying life-spans of other species. He presents a number of telling but rather depressing findings that tend to confirm the theory recently advanced by a number of authors - that our bodies are designed to repair errors and malfunctions only long enough to allow us to reproduce. After that, we are dispensable and so no further time and energy is wasted on our up-keep. We coast downhill into old age.

Hayflick continues with some telling facts about cancer that I hadn't heard before. He points out that the incidence of cancer peaks during people's sixties, then declines. Also, autopsies reveal that one-half of all their subjects have cancer when they die, although cancer wasn't what killed them. Then there are good pages on the immune system and the fact that early exposure to various antigens produces more effective immunity against those foreign bodies and possibly a heightened resistance to cancer.

I was reminded here though of the opposite opinion held by Gerald Dermer, author of "The Immortal Cell." Dermer suggested that the key to fighting cancer was to weaken the immune system in order to allow various viruses to attack. It's in the nature of most viruses to specifically invade and kill rapidly dividing cells, which defines most cancer cells. When some cancer patients contracted mumps, their cancers were eradicated.

This all goes to show that there still is no consensus about what causes aging, or about how to combat some of the diseases that strike people down before they can become jolly centenarians. So you might not live longer as a result of reading this book. But you will garner some lively, possibly fruitful information. And you might save money. You might find yourself being convinced that expensive regimens of supplements and exotic lifestyle changes have been shown to contribute little or nothing to longevity.

27 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A first-hand account on research on the biology of aging, July 31, 1998

By 

Jesus Requena ([e-mail]) (Bethesda, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How and Why We Age (Paperback)

Hayflick's book "How and Why We Age" is an excellent, first hand account on the research that has been conducted up to now on the biology of aging. It is of note that Hayflick is one of the pioneers in the field. The book is well written and can be enjoyed both by the scientist and the layperson. One flaw, in my opinion, involves Hayflick's personal- and highly biassed- account of the supposedly erroneous conclusions of Alexis Carrel regarding the immortality of cells cultured in vitro. After presenting what seems conclusive evidence opposing Carrel's claim, Hayflick describes a conversation with a technician who worked at Carrel's lab in New York in the thirties, who discloses highly questionable procedures, and describes threats to her when she reaised issues with the lab directors. It is clearly suggested that there was scientific negligence and even misconduct, and yet, the identity of this technician is not revealed, and the accusations, half a century la! ter, are foggy and impossible to challenge. This is a very serious issue, as Hayflick himself claims to have proven Carrel wrong, through his discovery of a fixed maximum number of divisions in cells grown in vitro. However, some even more recent experiments suggest that it is Hayflick who is wrong, because the cell culture conditions he uses are highly artificial, while Carrel's more primitive, but also more robust method (cultivating a chunk of tissue) are closer to physiological conditions. The issue at stakes is by no means trivial: are cells intrinsically immortal, ageless, or do they age and die like whole organisms?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Easy Reading in Plain English, May 12, 2010

By 

A. Toliver "book craver" (Staunton, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How and Why We Age (Paperback)

I had to read this book for extra credit in a Biology II class and I actually enjoyed it. I learned a lot about aging and the concept of aging versus actual age in years. I liked the fact that this was an intelligent writing but was not written for a scientist. No deciphering required. Just sit down and read and learn and laugh a little. Also you don't have to read the whole book, there are many chapters to pick out just what you are interested in.