Introducing Lifespan - The Book About Why We Age & Why We Don't Have To

The blurb that blurbed me

When Siddhartha Mukherjee called my book, “an elegant and exciting book that deserves to be read broadly and deeply," I didn’t know how to react. 

These were the words of an absolutely brilliant physician, biologist and oncologist, for goodness sake, from an author who won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. His book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” was formative in some of the ideas and the writing style of “Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To.” 

“Lifespan” challenges the idea that cancer reigns supreme over all other diseases—because, as you may have heard, I have argued that aging itself is a disease, and that it is, in fact, the key driver of other diseases, including cancer.

So, when I saw those words in my inbox, a few months ago, I was stunned and humbled. 

And, I’ve got to admit: I was also excited. Because if Siddhartha Mukherjee thinks this book deserves to be read, maybe it really does. 

If you know me, you know that I’m a generally confident guy who doesn’t like to be told what to do. That’s in part the Aussie in me. It’s also the result of being very fortunate to have had mentors, colleagues, collaborators and students who have pushed me to be my very best. 

I’ve always thought this book was important, that an awakening to the true nature of aging is underway, and that the proffering of a unified theory of aging was a vital step toward a better future. But, at the same time, I’ve been immersed in it for years, and I know that being completely surrounded by something is a good way to lose sight of the horizon. 

And so, to be honest, I was worried that I might miss the mark. Not when it comes to the science, but in the way I’ve presented it. Would my humor fall short? Would the stories seem self-indulgent? Would some people find the book too complicated and give up on it altogether? Would others wish I’d not gone deep enough?

Then that amazingly kind “blurb” landed in my inbox. And then, after that, another came from Leroy Hood, the famous biologist, and National Medal of Science recipient, whose work in DNA sequencing has been instrumental in driving forward many of the greatest advances in science of the past 40 years. 

“There are few books that have ever made me think about science in a fundamentally new way,” Hood wrote. “David Sinclair’s book did that for me on aging.”

Wow. Just. Wow. 

The blurbs kept coming. From Mark Hyman and Dean Ornish. From William Li and Dale Bresden and Sara Gottfried. These are all people who have written books that fundamentally changed the way other people think about health and science. It was all so incredibly humbling. 

And also, it was confidence-boosting.

Look, I still don’t know how this book will be received when it “hits the streets.” I’m told that some books that seem destined for best-seller status fizzle out when people crack the bindings, while others that seemed to be destined for the dollar bin wind up selling millions of copies.

I don’t really know what other people’s expectations for this book are. But for me, it comes down to this: 

I believe you’ll find this book to be exciting. 

I believe this book will challenge your ideas about aging. 

I believe this book will make you think about your own life and your future — and the future of our species on this planet — in a different way.

Indeed, today, as this book is put out on shelves and as it arrives in people’s mailboxes around the world, I’m feeling confident about all of that.

I hope you will agree.

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By David Sinclair on September. 10th, 2019

I have lots of weird ideas. Some of them turn into research questions. Others turn into companies. Some simply get tweeted, and that's the end of that. Head over to Twitter — I'm @davidasinclair — to find out what's on my mind. Order Lifespan here.