The Longevity Delusion: Money, Myths and Bad Science

Seamus O’Mahony cuts through the pseudo-scientific nonsense in this takedown of the longevity industry, a multi-billion dollar scam which feeds off myths, fear and vulnerability. The search for a world in which old age is a curable disease, and death is optional, unites Elon Musk, Bryan Johnson and Gwyneth Paltrow. The longevity industry is a vast, pseudo-medical enterprise that has spawned countless bestselling books, social media frenzies and a huge network of conferences and pharmacological research. Seamus O'Mahony casts his skeptical and acerbic eye over this landscape in his brilliant quest to uncover the truth behind an industry – largely funded by Silicon Valley billionaires – which feeds off the gullibility of rich investors and death-phobic consumers to sell drugs, stem cell therapy, gene therapy and intermittent fasting. He draws upon real scientific evidence to cut through the nonsense and to make a serious case for why this industry is unlikely to find a real solution. O’Mahony’s investigation will dive deep into this world as he attends longevity conferences and meets some of its infamous figures in their natural habitats. He has a gift for witty caricatures exposing the ridiculousness of powerful individuals in this space: including Aubrey de Grey (tall, stick-thin, Rasputin-like beard and hair, drawling old-Harrovian accent), David Sinclair (professor of genetics at Harvard medical school, and huge fraud), Peter Diamandis (entrepreneur, multimillionaire, space tourism pioneer and author of aspirational business books), Bryan Johnson (multimillionaire and case study for longevity mania), and Peter Attia (celebrity doctor to Gwyneth Paltrow and Elon Musk).Praise for Can Medicine Be Cured?‘An exceptionally strong polemic – one that might even persuade Miley Cyrus to start eating wheat again’ Sunday Business Post‘A book on health that everyone should read this year... A fascinating read for patients, medics and anyone who cares’ Sunday Independent (Dublin)'A deeply fascinating and rousing book' Mail on Sunday'What makes this book a delightful, if unsettling read, is not just O'Mahony's scholarly and witty prose, but also his brutal honesty' The Times