The title of this book says a lot. Immortality: the Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization. Certainly made me stop and take a look.
The author shows four possible paths to the goal of immortality that people have pursued for a long, long time: (1) Staying Alive (via magic or science); (2) Resurrection (via rising from the dead like Jesus or reanimation like in Frankenstein); (3) Soul (via heaven or reincarnation); and (4) Legacy (via fame or genes). Interesting discussion provided with each, including possible origins and how they affected civilization in big ways.
Each of these paths is examined by the author in some detail and found wanting. Cutting to the chase, the author thinks that none of the four work; in fact, he does not seem to think that immortality is any usual sense of the term is possible. A fifth path of sorts, that has been around a while, but not as popular perhaps, is then presented - Wisdom. It has three parts: identifying with others, focus on the present, and gratitude; I think it is fair to say that the author concludes that it is best to practice this fifth path which allows you to stay sane/content and then you die and that's it for you, but no big deal because ...
I did like the book, but I found the author's analysis incomplete. To me the most glaring issue here is that he does not consider many possibilities concerning the existence of the soul and how an immortal would not get bored which stem from eastern religions and other sources commonly known. And he does not seem to allow for the fact that some very important things remained undetected by science for a very long time, then suddenly where shown to exist, at least indirectly. How about dark matter and dark energy? Maybe they will explain the soul. Who knows?
This would have been a five out of five star book if not for the authors rush to a conclusion. The best I can give it is four.
That being said, there is lots of good food for thought here. I recommend the book but with the caveats above.
The author shows four possible paths to the goal of immortality that people have pursued for a long, long time: (1) Staying Alive (via magic or science); (2) Resurrection (via rising from the dead like Jesus or reanimation like in Frankenstein); (3) Soul (via heaven or reincarnation); and (4) Legacy (via fame or genes). Interesting discussion provided with each, including possible origins and how they affected civilization in big ways.
Each of these paths is examined by the author in some detail and found wanting. Cutting to the chase, the author thinks that none of the four work; in fact, he does not seem to think that immortality is any usual sense of the term is possible. A fifth path of sorts, that has been around a while, but not as popular perhaps, is then presented - Wisdom. It has three parts: identifying with others, focus on the present, and gratitude; I think it is fair to say that the author concludes that it is best to practice this fifth path which allows you to stay sane/content and then you die and that's it for you, but no big deal because ...
I did like the book, but I found the author's analysis incomplete. To me the most glaring issue here is that he does not consider many possibilities concerning the existence of the soul and how an immortal would not get bored which stem from eastern religions and other sources commonly known. And he does not seem to allow for the fact that some very important things remained undetected by science for a very long time, then suddenly where shown to exist, at least indirectly. How about dark matter and dark energy? Maybe they will explain the soul. Who knows?
This would have been a five out of five star book if not for the authors rush to a conclusion. The best I can give it is four.
That being said, there is lots of good food for thought here. I recommend the book but with the caveats above.
