I'm going to pick this book up in the next few days. I heard it is pretty good.
http://www.amazon.co...=glance&s=books
LongeCityAdvocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans
The Biology of Death: Origins of Mortality
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chubtoad
, Mar 24 2004 10:44 PM
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Posted 17 July 2004 - 07:57 AM
Also known as Biologie de la Mort (2000), the book was originally written in French by Andre Larsfeld and Frederic Revah. I will offer my thoughts:
Non, my French is not good enough to have read it in the original language it was authored in so I picked up the english version which came out early this year The first thing you realize when your begin to read this book is that it has a different kind of substance. The english translation, by Lydia Brady, manages to retain some elements of french expression and subsequently construction of arguments.
We are treated to a very European (what else is there?) history of the study of death including it's "Copernicization" beginning in the 18th century. What follows includes the standard fare of the evolution of aging, variations across different species, epidimeology, mechanisms including some suggestion of programming, and very, very briefly interventions. The conclusion is strange. There is an underlying admission that the preprogramed process of aging lends itself to intervention but the focus abruptly turns to the personal reconciliation between death and the individual.
A gentle, neutral, sometimes sophisticated rationalization of death from a european science perspective with some reasonable scientific tidbits on programmed cell death. Not a pessimistic book but not optimistic either. In my view the historical aspects are of more value than the scientific ones. Worth having on the bookshelf if only to have a more worldly understanding of the issues.
Non, my French is not good enough to have read it in the original language it was authored in so I picked up the english version which came out early this year The first thing you realize when your begin to read this book is that it has a different kind of substance. The english translation, by Lydia Brady, manages to retain some elements of french expression and subsequently construction of arguments.
We are treated to a very European (what else is there?) history of the study of death including it's "Copernicization" beginning in the 18th century. What follows includes the standard fare of the evolution of aging, variations across different species, epidimeology, mechanisms including some suggestion of programming, and very, very briefly interventions. The conclusion is strange. There is an underlying admission that the preprogramed process of aging lends itself to intervention but the focus abruptly turns to the personal reconciliation between death and the individual.
A gentle, neutral, sometimes sophisticated rationalization of death from a european science perspective with some reasonable scientific tidbits on programmed cell death. Not a pessimistic book but not optimistic either. In my view the historical aspects are of more value than the scientific ones. Worth having on the bookshelf if only to have a more worldly understanding of the issues.
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