Lifespan is the story of the modern quest for a longer and healthier life. Fascinating and well documented, it discusses what matters for living longer and what is not so important. It examines how scientists, drug manufacturers, and food companies promote products that have little effect on lifespan, and shows where we are neglecting some major threats.Lifespan offers a new perspective on longevity factors that we hear about every day. How important are weight and cholesterol? (Author Thomas Moore explains why these risk factors are exaggerated.) Is your parents' or grandparents' longevity a guide to your own lifespan? (It is a generally unreliable indicator of your prospects, although the genes you inherit may be very important.) Why do some individual actions, such as smoking, matter, while others, such as exercise, have little or uncertain effect? Do "free radicals" cause the aging process, and what are the prospects for living to 100 or beyond in the next century?One surprising finding is the important role of infectious disease - from the familiar flu to deadly new viruses. Lifespan shows why the greatest potential dangers to humans still come from the microscopic life forms that share our bodies and our planet, and explains how this relationship still regulates our average lifespan. For example, Moore relates the gripping story of what happened when one of the most lethal viruses known to science - so rare it was mostly a scientific curiosity - was discovered in Virginia, exhibiting new power to spread among humans.For many of us, the desire for a longer and healthier life leads us to worry about three risk factors: high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, and being overweight. Lifespan explains why treatments for these risk factors are usually ineffective. In a clear and understandable way, it outlines the scientific evidence, and shows why medical authorities, drug companies, and the food industry have distorted the facts.Lifespan also journeys to the scientific frontiers of longevity research. Today healthy, middle-aged Americans can expect to live into their eighties. What kind of breakthrough would it take for most people to live to age 100? Why does no one seem to survive past age 115? Moore describes the experiments that greatly increase the lifespan of animals and might work in humans, and he tells us about the hormones that might control the aging process.This book helps make sense of a fascinating subject that intrigues us all - mankind's oldest dream, the desire to extend the natural lifespan. Read Less