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Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying) Hardcover – February 17, 2015
| Bill Gifford (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying)
Spring Chicken is a full-throttle, high-energy ride through the latest research, popular mythology, and ancient wisdom on mankind's oldest obsession: How can we live longer? And better? In his funny, self-deprecating voice, veteran reporter Bill Gifford takes readers on a fascinating journey through the science of aging, from the obvious signs like wrinkles and baldness right down into the innermost workings of cells. We visit cutting-edge labs where scientists are working to "hack" the aging process, like purging "senescent" cells from mice to reverse the effects of aging. He'll reveal why some people live past 100 without even trying, what has happened with resveratrol, the "red wine pill" that made headlines a few years ago, how your fat tissue is trying to kill you, and how it's possible to unlock longevity-promoting pathways that are programmed into our very genes. Gifford separates the wheat from the chaff as he exposes hoaxes and scams foisted upon an aging society, and arms readers with the best possible advice on what to do, what not to do, and what life-changing treatments may be right around the corner.
An intoxicating mixture of deep reporting, fascinating science, and prescriptive takeaway, Spring Chicken will reveal the extraordinary breakthroughs that may yet bring us eternal youth, while exposing dangerous deceptions that prey on the innocent and ignorant.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGrand Central Publishing
- Publication dateFebruary 17, 2015
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-101455527440
- ISBN-13978-1455527441
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Editorial Reviews
Review
-Christopher McDougall, New York Times bestselling author of Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes
"Spring Chicken is a masterful exploration of the fantasy and fact surrounding one of the most fundamental questions of humankind: why do we age?"
-David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs and Sugar-Your Brain's Silent Killers
"Spring Chicken is an utterly marvelous book - a guided tour of a fantastic, counterintuitive landscape (that happens to be your body), and also a whip-smart guide to living a longer and healthier life. With this book, Bill Gifford joins the ranks of Mary Roach and Bill Bryson as a science writer supreme, illuminating our world in a page-turning style that is as entertaining as it is enlightening."
-Daniel Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code
"Bill Gifford's terrific Spring Chicken gives us a riveting account of the most important change of the last century-the doubling of our lifespans-and an intimate vision of what it will take to not only keep that trend going, but keep ourselves healthy and vibrant as we age."
-Steven Johnson, New York Times bestseller of How We Got to Now
"Gifford skillfully navigates the many strands of aging research to create an entertaining narrative of the perils of getting old."
-Kirkus
"An enlightening book-and a terrific read."
-The Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Grand Central Publishing; First edition. (February 17, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1455527440
- ISBN-13 : 978-1455527441
- Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #962,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #337 in Gerontology Social Sciences
- #1,585 in Anatomy (Books)
- #90,480 in Self-Help (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Bill Gifford is a veteran magazine writer and editor who writes about extraordinary athletes and cutting-edge health science. After growing up mostly in Washington, D.C., he returned after college to become a staff writer for the legendary Washington City Paper, for a salary paid in beer, rice and beans. He then moved to Philadelphia to write and edit for Philadelphia Magazine for several years. Continuing north along I-95 to New York, he worked as features editor and then "editor-at-large," the world's best job title, for Men's Journal. His freelance work has appeared in Outside magazine, where he is a longtime contributing editor, as well as Bicycling, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, Slate, and others, as well as in Best American Sportswriting. His first book, Ledyard, is a biography of the 18th-century explorer, writer, entrepreneur and bon vivant John Ledyard. His latest, Spring Chicken, is a personal investigation into the science of aging.
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The author is a major part of the tale so it's difficult to talk about ideas without talking about him. If I appear to be "bashing him," it's because he's writing about himself through the whole book.
He has a clear bias against Somers, yet, aside from her alternative lifestyle, she did change my life at age 18 - I stopped eating sugar, processed foods, and ate clean proteins and veggies. I worked out and learned to love food. I dropped 20 lbs, my mother dropped 11 lbs in one week. She teaches sugar is our enemy! And indeed, isn't there research that shows what she is saying is true? Sugar that doesn't come from fruits and whole grains can greatly affect the aging process. It's also taught to new doctors and nurses in A&P that older people need more protein than younger people because they no longer are able to efficiently breakdown protein. Somers focuses on a diet of high protein, fresh fruits and veggies, and she focuses on efficient digestion through food combining and probiotics. Microbes are also proving to be a promising area in anti-aging medicine. Yet, he picks on her one ancillary idea - HgH - and discounts her entirely with his mocking/cynical tone.
He writes with an attitude at times, and mocks the "conservatives" with obscure and untrue facts. Why does he inject his political bias when this book could have been written cleanly? I was expecting an Oliver Sacks style of writing but instead, I have to put up with offensive statements. His writing style is more like Douglas Coupland - a Gen X'er who wrote "Life After God," but then, sometimes a mild Tucker Max emerges - one minute he is talking about his girlfriend but then the next sentence he's sharing about his fantasy on a private island with an MRI technician. As a woman, this makes me super uncomfortable, I'm a little too close to what goes on in a "healthy man's head." But maybe his cynicism and "guy talk" is his strength and weakness, allowing you to get insight into the topic from an ordinary perspective.
He points out this "longevity study" he participated in was only available for white, middle aged men, and that they are now liberally "advancing" and including women. He writes as if this was a victory - but because the author isn't in healthcare, he sounds ignorant, merely because women were restricted from participating in clinical trials after thalidamide caused infants to be born with missing arms and legs. Experiments can cause unknown side effects upon women and their offspring so out of safety, the FDA put restrictions in place.
I do agree about the importance of exercise and keeping active as we age. We were taught that exercise is the best anti-aging medicine. You have no pumps in your legs to return blood to the heart - you need active legs. They are also discovering that the brain continues to make new neurons in the hypothalamus, so the idea of "you were born with all your brain cells simply is untrue. However, the scary thing is, the only way you can keep your new brain cells is through exercise.
There's a new type of medicine being born, individual or personalized medicine, and when we are able to heal and fight disease and choose the right foods based on our own individual genome, we will rely less on "curious ordinary magazine writers" and "extreme quacks" to gather hope for our future.
In his early forties, while contemplating his own mortality and after observing a grandfather and a grand uncle die at widely differing ages, author Bill Gifford decided to write a book on those factors that might help acquire the Fountain of Youth. Thus, SPRING CHICKEN: STAY YOUNG FOREVER (OR DIE TRYING).
After a preliminary discussion of aging and life expectancy in general, SPRING CHICKEN is basically Bill’s survey of those factors and practices – demonstrating scientifically proven merit or not – that have been, faddishly are, or might be life prolonging when considered against a backdrop of underlying aging-controlling genetics, obvious risk factors, and obvious signs of aging. Such include hormone injections, “healthy” diets, cholesterol lowering drugs, stem cell therapies, exercise regimens, old age athletic competition, ongoing severe caloric restriction, and cold water immersions.
For the reader, the greatest single benefit to reading SPRING CHICKEN is to acquire an introductory understanding of the fascinating metabolic mechanisms of aging at the cellular and molecular levels. It is the book’s inferred conclusion that the scientific understanding and manipulation of these processes will ultimately allow for a dramatic increase in human longevity (whether such is beneficial to the planet and its available resources or not).
The volume’s Appendix, “Things That Might Work”, lists what the reader could try to extend healthfulness while waiting for science to make the breakthrough: resveratrol, alcohol/red wine, coffee, curcumin, “Life Extension Mix”, metformin, vitamin D, aspirin and ibuprofen, and kale.
And, of course, Gifford stresses following the adage “use it or lose it.” That is, keep active both mentally and physically as the years pile up.
For me personally, the most interesting topic was that of the adverse effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV) on the aging body. Happily and luckily, I’m CMV negative.
SPRING CHICKEN is a must read for anyone wishing to prolong a healthy and active life.
"...My heart pumped furiously, trying to keep my core warm, while robbing blood from my extremities. Like my testicles, which ached fiercely, as if in the grasp of a vengeful girlfriend. 'My ba**s hurt!' I blurted.
'Yeah," said the World's Toughest Nerd, with a knowing nod. 'That happens.' "
Rather than rely on journal articles, Gifford goes right to the sources and interviews the people who have lived a long time, or who have aged well, or are doing life extension research. As a result I felt I had almost met them myself.
My Kindle Paperwhite is pretty well stocked with diet and exercise books and I even own a copy of CALORIE RESTRICTION, AGING AND LONGEVITY, but in Spring Chickena I found information which was heretofore unknown to me. What a bargain!
I count myself lucky to have had my car radio on when Gifford was being interviewed on NPR. Thank you NPR and thank you Mr. Gifford for making me laugh.










