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David Stipp
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The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution MP3 CD – Unabridged, July 12, 2010

by David Stipp (Author), Sean Runnette (Narrator)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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The promise of a longer life has captivated humans for centuries, even before the first person set out to find the Fountain of Youth. But promises of life extension have long reeked of snake oil, and despite our wishful thinking, most of us regard it as an impossible dream. In The Youth Pill, science writer David Stipp explores the history of efforts to slow aging, which have been plagued by fits and starts that have led to dead ends, not to mention countless disillusioning hoaxes. But as Stipp shows, we may now be much closer than we think. He takes us behind the scenes and introduces us to key players-in both science and business-who are experimenting with the most promising cutting-edge research to retard the aging process. This is an informative and provocative book that shows how a small group of optimistic and determined scientists are closing in on drugs that will change the way we live forever.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Tantor Audio
  3. Publication date
    July 12, 2010
  4. Dimensions
    5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1400167426
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1400167425
  7. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"An engaging account of the burgeoning field dubbed gerontology." ---The Wall Street Journal

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tantor Audio; MP3 - Unabridged CD edition (July 12, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1400167426
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1400167425
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.35 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.6 x 7.4 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

About the author

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David Stipp

David Stipp

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David Stipp is a science writer whose work has appeared in Scientific American, the New York Times, Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Science, Fortune, and other publications. Basic Books published his second book, A Most Elegant Equation: Euler’s Formula and the Beauty of Mathematics, in November 2017. In 2010, Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Books, published his book on the science of aging, The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution.

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

P
5.0 out of 5 stars Critical information toward an important goal
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2013
Verified Purchase
I have been reading several books about the anti-aging initiative and science behind it. If you read one book about it, I recommend "Ending Aging" by Aubrey de Grey, but if you read several, this is a must. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the science came to be, focusing on case studies and particular people and instances which had an effect on the science as we know it today, and a projection of what lies ahead.

Though a bit hard to read (not only for the author's eloquent word choices that were often above my head, requiring a dictionary near by, but also for the deep subject matter, and delightful pacing between light humor and hard science), I feel the book offers valuable information summarized to one text. Part of the confusion too is how the author discusses case studies and details which are never really put into context in ways that relate them to each other. I suppose that's the job of the scientist's though. The information is there, but it's up to to others to piece it together.

Another thing to note is how the author doesn't take too much bias to one side. Though there is striking scientific evidence which hold some promise coming from all different directions, he takes each one with a sense of possibility and skepticism. This is important, because running with the wrong information or discrediting correct information could certainly hold us back in our quest to end and manage aging (which, in my opinion, should be our focus in society right now).

I also enjoyed the Audible edition (which I highly recommend because it helps you pronounce correctly the names and scientific vernacular). It was clear, well-read, though there were a few discrepancies between the text and the audio edition (though I have the 2011 edition). I was able to read along at a pace much quicker than my normal reading speed.

Thank you, David Stipp, for this wonderful book, and thank you, Amazon, for introducing it to me.
3 people found this helpful
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Velho
4.0 out of 5 stars The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-aging Revolution
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2010
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The author takes on complicated and fascinating issues and addresses them well. The book is well written, excellently referenced and easy to read; I read it in two evenings. I am a red wine aficionado so I read Chapter 9 first. This helped me navigate through the rest of the book with a greater understanding than if I had started with Chapter 1. The difficulty in writing about the topic of the book is that new insights into aging are uncovered every day. This means that any book written on the topic, including this book, is obsolete before it is published.

I recommend to the book to anyone interested in the topic...and who isn't.
4 people found this helpful
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Gert Bo Thorgersen
3.0 out of 5 stars Not a complete book concerning the knowing and the speculations about the length of life.
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2013
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To me, we during the 266 of the sides of the book are reading too much about the life stories of the persons who have been speculating, and making research, in the hope of inventing and patenting pills for increasing the length of the human life. The book is very detailed when it comes to this, but to me it looks like only a small fraction by which way we maybe must go searching for the increasing of the length of our life.

For example we only on few lines shortly are reading about the progeria; the genetic disease which result in children born for only living until the age of 9 - 12 years, and then end behaving, and in some ways looking like, being senile. But actual they die when their DNA molecules have worked out. And many persons are speculating in getting the DNA, for all persons, to last longer, by having a longer repetition cycle, and we don't see this mentioned in the connection to the pills, which we in the book are reading about.

As a side remark, those who are born suffering of the progeria, 1 out of 8 million, are already having shorter DNA molecules. And in other books, or on the Internet, we learn that our "standard cells" (opposite to the cells in skin, stomach and brain) in the body are renewed 25 time (some write 40 times) and by each renewing the DNA is shortened a bit, and thereby children born suffering of progeria, are born with shorter DNAs, that is programmed as already being very old. And again, in the book we for example do not learn about increasing lifespan by changing, reprogramming, this DNA cycle.

And we for example neither are looking on how the mental living - the psychological factors and health - can result in how long we are living, where we know from the great depression in the 1930s, that many persons then died up to 20 years earlier than normally.

And starting on the side 46 we are getting some writings concerning Linus Pauling, and the vitamins E, C, and A, and beta-carotene (the precursor to the vitamin A), and the selenium, the chemical element with the atomic number 34. But among other, I put my doubt to the writing on the side 48, where we read that vitamin E don't help, but actual are "annus horribilis". I own around 350 doctor and health book, really being up to date, and by reading in these I've got quit differing information.

I find a book as for example James F. Fries & Lawrence M. Crapo: "Vitality and Aging", 178 sides, and printed in 1981, which I first time was reading bag in 1982, to be more helpful, concerning how long persons live, also by having many good graphical figures.

But again the book is very detailed concerning what we read about - except concerning Linus an the vitamins - but to me, too many sides with personal histories.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Pier
1.0 out of 5 stars unuseful.....
Reviewed in Italy on April 11, 2015
Verified Purchase
This book is a lenghty story on drug development without any practical advise for everyday life.
It is a waste of time and money.
Avoid it.
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