How and Why We Age

by Leonard Hayflick

Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (January 23, 1996) ASIN: 0345401557

"...by the researcher who discovered the link between telomerase and cell senescence, Leonard Hayflick. He named the phenomenon, or it became known as (I'm not sure which) The Hayflick Limit. It is very easy to read as it is written with the layman in mind and came out fairly recently in 1994."Some of his views were very surprising to me considering he is practically a legend ofaging research (or should I say fossil?). He has a rather pessimistic/conservative view of wo/man's ability to overcome or even significantly delay the aging process. Although he does mention that caloric restriction may be an exception, he harps on the fact that it has not been tested in humans. In the section on CR he also relates a discussion he had with Dr. Walford and makes an argument against CR (a weak one in my opinion). And while I don't share his pessimism I think that it is an informative book that gives a good overview or everything from the demographics of aging, to the major theories of aging, to a history of anti-aging therapies."For the more scientific-minded there is a book called Molecular Aspects ofAging. While I haven't read much of this one yet, it looks as if itcovers some of the major theories from a more scientific butargumentative/persuasive writing style than would normally found as it isderived from a German symposium on aging."Jason Poole