Why We Die - The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality

Informationen zum Autor Venki Ramakrishnan shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Venki runs the Ramakrishnan Lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. From 2015 to 2020, he served as president of the Royal Society, one of the world's oldest scientific organizations. He is the author of the frank scientific memoir Gene Machine . Klappentext "Utterly fascinating." —Bill Bryson "An incredible journey." —Siddhartha Mukherjee *WINNER OF THE 2025 ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS PROSE AWARD FOR BEST BOOK ON BIOLOGY* *2025 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS GOLD WINNER FOR SCIENCE AND COSMOLOGY* A groundbreaking exploration of the science of longevity and mortality—from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. One of the most difficult moments of childhood must be when each of us first realizes that not only we but all our loved ones will die—and there is nothing we can do about it. Or at least, there hasn’t been. Today, we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in understanding why we age—and why some species live longer than others. Could we eventually cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan? Venki Ramakrishnan, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former president of the Royal Society, takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology, asking whether we must be mortal. Covering the recent breakthroughs in scientific research, he examines the cutting edge of efforts to extend lifespan by altering our physiology. But might death serve a necessary biological purpose? What are the social and ethical costs of attempting to live forever? Why We Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals. Zusammenfassung "Utterly fascinating." —Bill Bryson "An incredible journey." —Siddhartha Mukherjee *WINNER OF THE 2025 ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS PROSE AWARD FOR BEST BOOK ON BIOLOGY* *2025 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS GOLD WINNER FOR SCIENCE AND COSMOLOGY* A groundbreaking exploration of the science of longevity and mortality—from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan The knowledge of death is so terrifying that we live most of our lives in denial of it. One of the most difficult moments of childhood must be when each of us first realizes that not only we but all our loved ones will die—and there is nothing we can do about it. Or at least, there hasn’t been. Today, we are living through a revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in understanding why we age—and why some species live longer than others. Could we eventually cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan? Venki Ramakrishnan, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and former president of the Royal Society, takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology, asking whether we must be mortal. Covering the recent breakthroughs in scientific research, he examines the cutting edge of efforts to extend lifespan by altering our physiology. But might death serve a necessary biological purpose? What are the social and ethical costs of attempting to live forever? Why We Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals. ...

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"A fascinating, counterintuitively hopeful, book." - Think (NPR affiliate KERA)
"For a book about death, Venki Ramakrishnan's Why We Die is joyfully alive. The story he tells is one of aging and death, but along the way he covers a huge range of biology, evolution, genetics, chemistry, and medicine. This is science writing at its finest: readable, authoritative, and impactful. The vignettes of important discoveries and the scientists that made them enliven the text, and show the personal side of the science of aging. As a scientist who studies dead things, this book gave me a whole new perspective on that one inevitable thing in every organism's life." - STEVE BRUSATTE, professor and paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs
"Why We Die is a crisply written, captivating and clear-eyed view of death, and how to defeat it. From research on starvation diets, young blood and cryonics to the longevity of naked mole rats, Nobelist Venki Ramakrishnan introduces us to a cast of extraordinary characters in his quest to fathom how elastic lifespan could prove to be. I believe Why We Die will be his enduring legacy, yet deep down, suspect most of us would still rather achieve immortality through not dying." - ROGER HIGHFIELD, author and science director of the Science Museum Group, London
"Utterly fascinating. Venki Ramakrishnan's ability to take the most challenging subjects and make them clear, enthralling and packed with insights fills me with awe." - BILL BRYSON, New York Times bestselling author of The Body
"The conquest of premature death has been remarkably successful in the past century. Can we go one better and extend life? This erudite, nuanced and insightful book tells a rich tale of discovery about why we age and die, skewers some charlatans along the way and offers just a glimmer of hope about immortality." - MATT RIDLEY, New York Times bestselling author of Genome
"It takes a prolific genius to take a bull by its horns, to stare down death until it gives up some of its highly encrypted secrets. ... An exquisite exposition. ... Structured almost like a page-turner of a whodunit, questions and hypotheses fly at each other, flop or survive and then usher us further on this quest. ... A panoramic view of the unfolding of the secrets of ageing and death in crisp cogent writing that unfolds as a journey, delightful at every pitstop." - The New Indian Express
"Provides succinct insights [in] what is admirably and clearly a generalist account. ... In the human stories of the people who worked on the science of living - most of them ineffectual from the scientific angle - a storytelling opportunity Ramakrishnan relishes, the book comes alive." - Telegraph India
"Why We Die is peppered with fascinating anecdotes, peculiar personalities and valuable historical perspectives, giving it an extra dimension beyond a summary of the state of the art." - Nature
"Outstanding. ... I read this book with fascination." - ERIC TOPOL, Ground Truths Substack
"Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 'for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.' Annoyingly (I say this with love), he seems to also be a knockout writer." - Literary Hub
"An amazing book: profoundly philosophical, funny, and scientific, all at once." - EDITH HEARD, Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory
"Fascinating." - Big Brains podcast
"A dispassionate journey through current scientific understanding of aging and death." - The Harvard Gazette
"Wonderfully readable. ... Vivid. ... Extraordinary." - Financial Times

Product details

• Authors: Venki Ramakrishnan, Venki Ramakrishnan
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.02.2024
• EAN: 9780063113275
• ISBN: 978-0-06-311327-5
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 27 mm
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Nature, technology > Natural science; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Death & Dying, MEDICAL / Pathology, Pathology, SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Biology, PSYCHOLOGY / Developmental / Adulthood & Aging, Child, developmental and lifespan psychology, Sociology: death and dying, SCIENCE: General, SCIENCE: BIOLOGY, SCIENCE: Life Sciences / Biology, SOCIAL SCIENCE: Death & Dying, PSYCHOLOGY: Developmental / Adulthood & Aging