Mortal Coil: A Short History of Living Longer - Softcover

David Boyd Haycock

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300158254 ISBN 13: 9780300158250

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

An obsession with perpetual youth may seem a particularly modern phenomenon, but it is a goal that western scientists and philosophers have aspired to (and worked towards) for the last four hundred years. 'Mortal Coil' explores the medical, scientific and philosophical theories behind the quest for the prolongation of human life. It was a conundrum that intrigued Sir Francis Bacon and underpinned the scientific revolution; ideas of ultimate perfectibility, indefinite progress, and worldly rather than heavenly immortality, fed directly into the spirit of the Enlightenment and further into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In today's world of genetic research, cryonics and nanotechnology, we still seek the same elusive philosopher's stone. From Adam and Eve to human cloning and designer babies, seventeenth-century lifestyle guides to science fiction, Haycock's gripping story introduces an array of fascinating individuals - Rene Descartes, Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Swift, Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud as well as a score of unknown figures. Full of extraordinary stories and valuable insights, this is a curious, witty and captivating exploration into our unceasing desire to live forever.

About this title

Review:

'A frolic and gallop through four centuries of engagement with ageing, death, and fantasies of rejuvenation. There is something for everyone: optimists, pessimists, sceptics, and even the aspirational who think death a thing of the past.' - George Rousseau. 'A riveting account of the past four centuries of humans' search for the explanation of their mortality and the possibility of achieving immortality... Haycock provides a unique view of a fundamental aspect of human existence, written in an easy-to-read yet thought-provoking manner.' - The Dana Foundation --George Rousseau, The Dana Foundation

About the Author:

David Haycock is Wellcome Research Fellow in the History of Medicine at the London School of Economics. He is an established historian of culture and medicine and a regular contributor to the 'Times Literary Supplement'.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0300158254
• ISBN 13: 9780300158250
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320