The clock of ages why we age--how we age--winding back the clock - Medina, John (Cambridge University Press, 1996)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-325) and index
Who ages? -- A slippery overarching definition -- Humanizing aging and death -- Why age at all -- How do we age? -- How the skin and hair age -- The aging of bones, muscles and joints -- The aging of the brain -- How the heart ages -- The aging of the lungs -- What happens to the digestion -- How the senses age -- The aging of the reproductive system -- Why do we age? -- A tale of two theories -- Error accumulation -- Programmed death -- Winding back the clock
Anyone who has watched the wrinkles of time develop on their face, or has been disturbed by a loss of memory, has uncomfortably confronted the human aging process. The inexorable march of time on our bodies begs an important question: why do we have to grow old? Written in everyday language, The Clock of Ages takes us on a tour of the aging human body - all from a research scientist's point of view. From the deliberate creation of organisms that live three times their natural span to the isolation of human genes that may allow us to do the same, The Clock of Ages also examines the latest discoveries in geriatric genetics. Sprinkled throughout the pages are descriptions of the aging of many historical figures, such as Florence Nightingale, Jane Austen, Bonaparte and Casanova. These stories underscore the common bond that unites us all: they aged, even as we do. The Clock of Ages tells us why