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The Book of Immortality: The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever, by Adam Leith Gollner
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A “wonderful” (Harper’s), “engrossing” (Parade) exploration of the most universal of human obsessions: immortality—from an author who is “part Mary Roach, part Joe Strummer of The Clash” (The Wall Street Journal).
What have we not done to live forever? Adam Leith Gollner, the critically acclaimed author of The Fruit Hunters, weaves together religion, science, and mythology in a gripping exploration of the most universal of human obsessions: immortality.
Raised without religion, Adam Leith Gollner was struck by mankind’s tireless efforts to cheat aging and death. In a narrative that pivots between profundity and hilarity, he brings us into the world of those whose lives are shaped by a belief in immortality. From a Jesuit priest on his deathbed to antiaging researchers at Harvard, Gollner— sorting truth from absurdity—canvasses religion and science for insight, along with an array of cults, myths, and fringe figures.
He journeys to David Copperfield’s archipelago in the Bahamas, where the magician claims to have found “a liquid that reverses genes.” He explores a cryonics facility, attends a costume party set in the year 2068 with a group of radical life-extensionists, and soaks in the transformative mineral waters at the Esalen Institute. Looking to history, Gollner visits St. Augustine, Florida, where Ponce de León is thought to have sought the Fountain of Youth.
Combining immersive reporting, rigorous research, and lyrical prose, Gollner charts the rise of longevity science from its alchemical beginnings to modern-day genetic interventions. He delves into the symbolic representation of eternal life and its connection to water. Interlaced throughout is a compelling meditation on the nature of belief, showing how every story we tell about immortality is a story about the meaning of death.
“Part journalist, part detective, part scientist.” (New York Post). Adam Leith Gollner has written a rollicking and revelatory examination of our age-old notion of living forever.
- Sales Rank: #895535 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-08-20
- Released on: 2013-08-20
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. In an effort as ambitious as it is (probably) impossible, former Vice editor Gollner (The Fruit Hunters) embarks on an epic quest to understand the nature of immortality. His exhaustive research leaves no fountain of youth untasted, no faith unexamined, and no pseudoscience unquestioned. This book is both a personal journey and an extensive overview of the ways in which humans cope with the idea of death and attempt to defy the aging process. Gollner approaches a number of religions with respectful curiosity, chatting with Jesuits, Sufi Muslims, Hasidic Jews, and more to gain perspective on the nature of the afterlife. He hobnobs with magician David Copperfield (who claims to have discovered a fountain of youth on his private island) and heads to Florida in search of Ponce de León's fabled find. He tours cryonic facilities, attends a get-together of immortalists and a Harvard-sponsored anti-aging symposium, and wraps it up with a Buddhist Elixir of Life ceremony. It's an engrossing, immensely fascinating tour of beliefs and attitudes about death, presented with a relatively unbiased, if skeptical, eye. There is no one true answer provided here; in fact, there may be too many answers. As Gollner puts it, We haven't yet found certainty. We can uncertainly state that we likely never will. His attempt may be the next best thing. Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary Agency. (Aug. 20)
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Death perplexes the agnostic Gollner, who marvels at how people respond to its existential threat with immortalizing beliefs. Interrogating such beliefs, Gollner questions priests, mystics, magicians, and scientists—diverse voices for the nearly universal yearning for eternal life. The author contemplates religious doctrines defining death as a portal into eternity, and he reflects on martyrs’ steely faith in such doctrines. But as a skeptic, Gollner craves empirical proof. Yet in scrutinizing near-death experiences—including his own harrowing teenage brush with death—he finds only maddening ambiguities. The struggle to interpret these ambiguities carries readers into Freud’s theories, Swedenborg’s visions, and Whitman’s poetry. But this intensely personal attempt to understand mortality’s boundary turns satiric when it leads to naïfs and charlatans seeking not life after death but life without death. Without the excuse of their predecessors’ historical circumstances, these modern immortalists recapitulate early alchemists’ and explorers’ search for life-perpetuating potions or a Fountain of Youth. Though his research identifies scientists exploring plausible medical strategies for maximizing longevity, Gollner skewers with barbed irony the credulous souls who believe they can actually defeat death with New Age mantras—or schedule the medical resurrection of their cryogenically preserved bodies. A probing inquiry into the most insistent of human hopes. --Bryce Christensen
Review
"Adam Leith Gollner possesses a talent as rare and exotic as a coconut pearl…. Lustrous and exhilarating… The talents of a food writer, investigative journalist, poet, travel writer and humorist grafted onto one unusual specimen. Long may he thrive." (Mary Roach New York Times Book Review)
“You'll delight in Gollner's globe-trotting adventures seeking exotic produce.” (Entertainment Weekly)
"A probing inquiry into the most insistent of human hopes." (Booklist (starred review))
"An epic quest to understand the nature of immortality... An engrossing, immensely fascinating tour of beliefs." (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
“Highly enjoyable…. Gollner is a good sport and a fine wordsmith. Part Mary Roach, part Joe Strummer of the Clash, he injects punk energy and invention into the genre of quirky scientific nonfiction. Long may he write.” (Wall Street Journal)
"[An] engrossing look at the way centuries of humans have sought the secret to eternal life through religion, magic, and science." (Parade)
"Sharp reporting and good-humor... Adam Gollner has done a terrific job of reminding us that, though we all have to die, it may not be the worst thing." (NY1, "The Book Reader")
“Bold, entertaining, thought-provoking… The Book of Immortality is first-rate entertainment, a blast of intellectual stimulation and vivid reporting.” (Shelf Awareness)
Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Tells the truth: the emperor has no clothes.
By Future
Adam Gollner is a brave man. He is one of those rare people who simply tells the truth and it shows in his prose. Again and again, he talks about people I know well over the past 20 years, again and again he describes them accurately. Most of the "aging community" is divided into two groups: the excitable crowd with scores of theories, none of them testable, and the careful scientists (like Liz Blackburn and Cal Harley) who do the work and shun the true believers. While we may (or may not) someday be able to reverse aging, most of the current claims are merely that: claims. As for immortality, it sells well in the tabloids but remains theology, not science. Gollner has the ability to describe everyone in the field, without sympathy, but equally without bias or rancor. He simply and accurately describes them as they actually are. I look forward to his next book: where else can I find someone who can tell me about what actually IS rather than about wishful thinking. Well done!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent literary non-fiction
By Suzanne Minsky
I picked this up after seeing the glowing reviews in both Harper’s Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. It’s definitely an incredible, incredible read. If you believe that you are physically immortal, be prepared to have your world-view challenged. (I also think you will come away a better person.) And if you are more inclined toward a particular branch of spiritual immortality, you will certainly learn a great deal about where the idea of eternal life came from as well as the numerous alternatives out there. And if, like myself (and the author), you have no alignment with any faith, you will still come away with a deeper understanding for the need to believe. As many reviewers have pointed out, one of Adam Leithe Gollner’s strengths is that he is so open to everyone in this book -- and his framework for approaching immortality allows us to find that openness as well. This is one of those books that can change your way of looking at the world.
And then there's the wild journey to David Copperfield’s island in search of the Fountain of Youth! Plus tons of unexpected discoveries, eccentric characters, and an engrossing exposition of where longevity science is at today. A perfect balance of science writing, narrative non-fiction, poetic prose, humor and philosophy. Get it, read it, delve into the history of eternity. Excellent, excellent writing.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
Adam Leith Gollner's The Book of Immortality, science belief and magic behind living forever.
By Nicholas Voeikoff-Erens
A religion, magic and science survey from antiquity to now, regarding humanity's quest to overcome death and defying age and disease.
Erudite and pop mingled with personal glimpses drawn from family and friends, from auntie Tiny's funeral notice, to an aging Jesuit professor Gervais to his buddy Raf Katigak.
The motive for his search is to find an intersection of religion, magic and science, wherein immortality is revealed as either fake or fact.
Neither of the 3 vectors survive Gollner's probing prose unscathed, journalism, often very funny, at times with a quirky twist all his own, witty and always limpid discourse worthy of the best academics.
The highlight of the book is how Gollner and his sidekick Raf, penetrate the creepy world of the magician David Copperfield, a world of illusionism and fakery and the pitifully vulnerable creature that is David, hiding behind his fountain of youth on his kitschy resort, a distopia in the Bahamas, designed to lure the b illionares of the day.
2013 finds immortality just as elusive as it was since man began to dream of how to defeat death.
A good read, lots of facts and laughs throughout.
A tip to the reader: If you have a property with a dubious water source, put it on the market as a fountain of youth.
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