Overview

A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SUMMER READ OF 2024 'Enthralling and packed with insights.' - BILL BRYSON 'A must-read.' - STEPHEN FRY 'Spectacular. Changed my perspective on the whole living world.' - CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN A groundbreaking exploration of the science of longevity from Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan __________________ How can science help us live better and longer? We are living through an exciting revolution in biology. Giant strides are being made in our understanding of why we age, and why some species live longer than others. Will we soon be able to cheat disease and death and live for a very long time, possibly many times our current lifespan? In Why We Die, Ramakrishnan takes us on a riveting journey to the frontiers of biology. He explains the latest scientific understanding of exactly why we age and how we might prevent it. He examines the cutting-edge efforts to extend lifespan by altering our natural biology and raises profound questions. Might death serve a necessary biological purpose? As science advances, what will it mean for us all if people start living longer? And how can we increase our chances of living long, healthy and fulfilled lives? Why We Die is a narrative of uncommon insight and beauty from one of our leading public intellectuals. 'An incredible journey.' - SIDDHARTHA MUKHERJEE 'Joyfully alive' - STEVE BRUSATTE 'Scientists do not come much more eminent than Venki Ramakrishnan... wonderfully readable... fascinating.' FINANCIAL TIMES *As heard on BBC Radio 4 Start the Week* *Longlisted for the Atta Galatta Banglaore Literature Festival Prize 2024*

Full Product Details

Author:   Venki Ramakrishnan
Publisher:   Hodder & Stoughton
Imprint:   Hodder & Stoughton
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 23.20cm
Weight:   0.400kg
ISBN:  

9781529369250

ISBN 10:   1529369258
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   19 March 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Reviews

"'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.' This riveting and revealing book is for all of us who wonder whether ageing and mortality are the next frontiers for human science to cross. Has the first person destined to live of two hundred already been born? Can we really extend our longevity further and further until ... until what? Immortality? Why We Die takes us on a thrilling ride through the science of ageing and death. Meet naked mole rats, lugworms, budding yeast and creepy human charlatans on the way. Venki Ramakrishnan, a Nobel laureate at the very cutting edge of molecular biology has an extraordinary gift for explaining the science behind ageing and death with clarity, wit and enviably entertaining narrative flair. A must read. ""It is rare to find a book that manages to combine science, politics, memoir and medicine with ease, grace and lucidity. Ramakrishnan's book, which comes at a time when the hype and hope around immortality has ascended to a febrile pitch, achieves precisely all of this, while taking readers on an incredible journey that encompasses the knowns and many unknowns that surround the science, mystery and metaphysics of death and dying. This is a book for many generations, about many generations."" -- Siddhartha Mukherjee '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.' 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. 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. ""Why We Die brilliantly captures the essentials of our current understanding of the aging process. This is an enjoyable romp through molecular and cell biology - and thought-provoking about ethical issues."" '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 * '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.' * Steve Brusatte *"

'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 * '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.' * Steve Brusatte *

Author Information

Venki Ramakrishnan won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for uncovering the structure of the ribosome. He runs the Ramakrishnan Lab at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. From 2015 to 2020, he served as president of the Royal Society in London. He is the author of the scientific memoir Gene Machine.

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