In this work, the various theories of ageing are explained and assessed. The author presents case accounts about disorders that open windows on to the ageing process. The impacts of ageing on the brain and nervous system are given special attention, as are the effects of caloric restriction on maximum lifespan.

INTRODUCTION ; 1. Aging, Senescence, and Lifespan ; 2. The Nature of Cellular Senescence and Death ; 3. The Evolution of Senescence and Death ; 4. Of Embryos and Worms and Very Old Men: The Developmental Genetics of Senescence and Lifespan ; 5. Human Genetic Diseases that Mimic the Aging Process ; 6. Cycling to Senescence ; 7. Replicative Immortality: Cancer and Aging ; 8. Caloric Restriction and Maximum Lifespan ; 9. With Every Breath We Take: Oxidative Stress and Cellular Senescence ; 10. The Aging Brain ; 11. A Conditional Benefit

"Clark effortlessly takes readers from the simple to the complex, from a discussion of single-celled organisms to human beings.... He also does a nice job of exploring the causes of Alzheimer's disease, various forms of cancer and an array of genetic disorders that afflict the young by making them age prematurely.... Neatly informative."--Publishers Weekly "Why in spite of healthy, well-fed, well-watered lives do people age and die? The well-informed physician-researcher, William R. Clark, excitedly reveals new studies of progeric and normal mammals as he tracks the inevitable corollary to human life: the inexorable rhythmic march to human death."--Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-author of What is Life" and What is Sex" "Fascinating and informative.... One of the book's most engaging elements is Clark's ability to show how scientists think about problems and approaches in the field."--Booklist "Clark effortlessly takes readers from the simple to the complex, from a discussion of single-celled organisms to human beings.... He also does a nice job of exploring the causes of Alzheimer's disease, various forms of cancer and an array of genetic disorders that afflict the young by making them age prematurely.... Neatly informative."--Publishers Weekly "Why in spite of healthy, well-fed, well-watered lives do people age and die? The well-informed physician-researcher, William R. Clark, excitedly reveals new studies of progeric and normal mammals as he tracks the inevitable corollary to human life: the inexorable rhythmic march to human death."--Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-author of What is Life" and What is Sex" "Fascinating and informative.... One of the book's most engaging elements is Clark's ability to show how scientists think about problems and approaches in the field."--Booklist

Professor Emeritus of Immunology at UCLA and an internationally recognized authority on cellular immune reactions, William R. Clark is the author of The New Healers: Molecular Medicine in the Twenty-First Century, Sex and the Origins of Death, and At War Within: The Double Edged Sword of Immunity, all published by OUP.