Description
"Veteran journalist Chip Walter takes us deep inside Silicon Valley's boardrooms and the world's most advanced biomedical labs to reveal the incredible new science of extending human lifespan. Here are the bold business moves funded by Google and made by Apple chairman and Calico CEO Arthur Levinson; the pioneering stem cell techniques developed by scientist Robert Hariri; the transformative enterprises established by genomics genius Craig Venter; and the mind-bending future envisioned by thought leader Ray Kurzweil--all pointing toward a time not too long from now when we will live without disease or diminished faculties far beyond the age of 100. It's an audacious cast of characters, and through their stories you will come to understand how groundbreaking discoveries in gene therapy, molecular biology, and artificial intelligence are cracking the aging process--and could even lead to immortality. As Walter reveals, the quest to cheat death isn't science fiction anymore. It's real, it's serious, and it will change absolutely everything--including our definition of what it means to be alive."--Dust jacket.
About the Author
I am an author, National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker and former CNN bureau chief. Mostly because of my irrational curiosity, I've developed an unusually broad background that spans both science and entertainment. I have written and sold multiple screenplays, but my sixth book, Doppelgänger, is my first novel, a science fiction thriller that explores a post-dystopian world where the main character is faced with solving his own murder, and where artificial intelligence approaches human consciousness. More details on that here:https://chipwalter.com/doppelganger.)My earlier books include Immortality, Inc. -- Renegade Science, Silicon Valley Billions, and the Quest to Live Forever for National Geographic. It's available in bookstores everywhere. Salon's review: “Walter has clearly gained the trust of some of the most innovative and imaginative thinkers of the early 21st century, and in doing so he's able to offer the reader a glimpse inside their minds. And what we find there is certainly colorful. Whatever one thinks of the quest for immortality, it is impossible not to be intrigued by it”. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “While Immortality, Inc. is focused on aging and the efforts to defy it, the book is also a gripping chronicle of private-sector experimentation and ingenuity.” “Witty … worth the ride,” wrote Nature, and Publisher’s Weekly calls the book, “Fascinating.” It was chosen one of the nation’s top six science books by Malcolm Gladwell’s Next Big Idea Club.Other books include Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived; Thumbs, Toes and Tears – And Other Traits That Make Us Human (Walker –– Bloomsbury Publishing); I’m Working on That with William Shatner (Simon and Schuster); and Space Age for Random House, the companion volume to the primetime PBS series that I developed back in the stone age.I have been fortunate enough to have my books published in eight languages that have reached mainstream audiences from Kyoto to Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Hong Kong, Mexico City and Krakow, God help them.The New York Times Book Review, called Last Ape “a lively journey… that takes an antic delight in the triumphal adaptations and terrifying near misses of human evolution.” ”The New Yorker called it “engaging” and “fascinating.” And Booklist called it, “captivating, informative, exceptionally well-written and accessible.” Thumbs, Toes and Tears also received some nice reviews: Publisher’s Weekly wrote“fascinating and superbly written,” while Kirkus Reviews said, “Walter narrates with flair and enthusiasm.”When I did a stint in Hollywood, I sold screenplays to Universal/Imagine Films, Tri-Star and Warner Bros. I've written tons of articles over the years for National Geographic, The Economist, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American, among many others covering subjects from the origins of kissing, laughter and human consciousness to the origins of human art and the development of futuristic technologies. My work as a journalist and documentary filmmaker, have taken me all over the place -- from the Amazon Rain Forest and Outback of Australia to the Serengeti and remote islands of the Pacific. Even Antarctica as part of my current project with his wife Cyndy to travel all seven continents, never by jet.Sorry for piling all of that information on you, but there's just a bit more. I'm deeply fascinated with two seemingly unrelated subjects – human behavior, and the increasingly rapid advance of technology and its effect upon our lives and society. I believe no technology, no matter how powerful, can succeed unless it connects positively and effectively on a human level. (Thus Doppelgänger.) To smooth the immense and disruptive transitions that lie ahead, I feel it's crucial for us to not only understand the power of emerging technology, but also to better comprehend the core attributes that make human
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