The Ancient Quest for Eternal Youth
The glittering lure of thepossibility of a fountain of youth has captivated poets, dreamers, andexplorers for thousands of years. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written circa 2000BCE, mentions a plant that can "make old men young." Perhaps the mostfamous historical figure associated with the fountain of youth is the explorerPonce de Leon, whose explorations included voyages to the islands of Bimini offthe southeastern coast of Florida, where the indigenous inhabitants told him thata fountain of youth was to be found.
Needless to say, de Leon neveractually found a fountain of youth on Bimini or anywhere else. And while thereis also no plant that can make "old men young", we do have theinnovations and breakthroughs of modern science. The last ten years or so, inparticular, has seen a veritable explosion in books written for generalaudiences on the topic of longevity and how to achieve it. A wide selection ofthese books can be found at the library.
Recommended Reading
Perhaps the most widely read ofthese books on longevity for the general reader is "Outlive: TheScience and Art of Longevity" by Peter Attia, with over 2 millioncopies sold. Attia, a surgeon, argues that we should stop thinking about ourlife in terms of "lifespan" but rather, in terms of"healthspan" – that is, the number of years we can enjoy in good healthand unburdened by the diseases largely associated with aging like Alzheimer’s,type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Attia argues for a preventative approach to agingcentering on the latest research in how to optimize nutritional intake andphysical activity to achieve as long of a "healthspan" as possible.
Another well-received book onthis topic can be found in the bluntly titled, "How Not to Age: TheScientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older" by Dr.Michael Greger. Greger describes 11 distinct processes that cause our bodies toage at the cellular level, and how to combat each of them not withpharmaceuticals but with a reorientation of one’s diet from a focus on choicesbased on tradition, emotion, or habit towards one focused on combating the 11processes of aging.
The closest scientific argumentfor a sort of fountain of youth can be found in "Lifespan: Why WeAge—and Why We Don’t Have To" by Harvard Medical School researcher Dr.David A. Sinclair. Sinclair makes the revolutionary argument that aging is nota natural process but rather a disease that can be treated like any otherdisease. Sinclair argues that a combination of lifestyle changes combined withemerging technologies will soon allow us to activate ancient "survivalgenes" that will stop and even reverse aging.
The Blue Zones Approach
Finally, perhaps the mostinfluential book on slowing aging based on diet is Dan Buettner’s "TheBlue Zones Solution: Eating and Living like the World’s Healthiest People",published in 2015 and followed up by a large number of cookbooks based on theprinciples shared in the original book. Buettner notes that people living inthe Mediterranean region of Southern Europe have some of the longest lifespansin the world, and he attributes these long lives largely to the diet theyconsume, which is based on whole grains, fish, vegetables, and healthy fats.
Visit the Library
We have all of these titles atthe library, and many more books centered on how to eat, cook, and live thehealthiest life possible. Unlike de Leon, your voyage to access our"fountain of youth" does not require a perilous journey by sea, but asimple trip to our library!
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