Outlive

Why does the world need another book about longevity? I’ve asked myself that question often over the last few years. Most writers in this space fall into certain categories. There are the true believers, who insist that if you follow their specific diet (the more restrictive the better), or practice meditation a certain way, or eat a particular type of superfood, or maintain your “energy” properly, then you will be able to avoid death and live forever. What they often lack in scientific rigor they make up for with passion.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who are convinced that science will soon figure out how to unplug the aging process itself, by tweaking some obscure cellular pathway, or lengthening our telomeres, or “reprogramming” our cells so that we no longer need to age at all. This seems highly unlikely in our lifetime, although it is certainly true that science is making huge leaps in our understanding of aging and of the Horsemen diseases. We are learning so much, but the tricky part is knowing how to apply this new knowledge to real people outside the lab — or at a minimum, how to hedge our bets in case this highfalutin science somehow fails to put longevity into a pill.

This is how I see my role: I am not a laboratory scientist or clinical researcher but more of a translator, helping you understand and apply these insights. This requires a thorough understanding of the science but also a bit of art, just as if we were translating a poem by Shakespeare into another language. We have to get the meaning of the words exactly right (the science), while also capturing the tone, the nuance, the feeling, and the rhythm (the art). Similarly, my approach to longevity is firmly rooted in science, but there is also a good deal of art in figuring out how and when to apply our knowledge to you, the patient, with your specific genes, your history and habits, and your goals.

I believe that we already know more than enough to bend the curve. That is why this book is called Outlive. I mean it in both senses of the word: live longer and live better. Unlike Tithonus, you can outlive your life expectancy and enjoy better health, getting more out of your life.

My goal is to create an actionable operating manual for the practice of longevity. A guide that will help you Outlive. I hope to convince you that with enough time and effort, you can potentially extend your lifespan by a decade and your healthspan possibly by two, meaning you might hope to function like someone twenty years younger than you.

But my intent here is not to tell you exactly what to do; it’s to help you learn how to think about doing these things. For me, that has been the journey, an obsessive process of study and iteration that began that day on the rocky shore of Catalina Island.