Nonfiction

Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer

  • Downloads：9705
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-05-11 21:30:59
  • Update Date：2025-09-07
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Steven Johnson
  • ISBN：0525538852
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Reviews

Kathleen Gray ，

Interesting and informative。 Johnson has pulled together essays on the multiple ways progress has allowed us to live longer。 Vaccines and antibiotics are obvious ， yes， but some of these are things I hadn't thought about， such as auto safety。 You might be familiar with some of the individuals he highlights but others are lesser known （and sent me down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia）。 I treated it as a collection and read it a section at a time。 Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC。 A timely read。 Interesting and informative。 Johnson has pulled together essays on the multiple ways progress has allowed us to live longer。 Vaccines and antibiotics are obvious ， yes， but some of these are things I hadn't thought about， such as auto safety。 You might be familiar with some of the individuals he highlights but others are lesser known （and sent me down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia）。 I treated it as a collection and read it a section at a time。 Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC。 A timely read。 。。。more

Joan ，

Sloppy scholarship， I expected better。Steven Johnson promulgates class-based myths about vaccination history， despite the fact that The Royal College of Surgeons， The Lancet and The Wellcome Trust have repudiated the story。 Twenty-two （22） years before Jenner’s supposed insight a humble farmer， Benjamin Jesty， performed vaccination with cowpox。 He presented his results publicly; Jenner took Jesty’s pilot experiment and rigorously tested it。 Well done Jenner。In the 1700s， Jenner， as a member of t Sloppy scholarship， I expected better。Steven Johnson promulgates class-based myths about vaccination history， despite the fact that The Royal College of Surgeons， The Lancet and The Wellcome Trust have repudiated the story。 Twenty-two （22） years before Jenner’s supposed insight a humble farmer， Benjamin Jesty， performed vaccination with cowpox。 He presented his results publicly; Jenner took Jesty’s pilot experiment and rigorously tested it。 Well done Jenner。In the 1700s， Jenner， as a member of the gentry， could appropriate the ideas of others with impunity — In 2021， careful historians give credit where it is due。https://www。thelancet。com/journals/la。。。www。nature。com>articles Putting Smallpox Out To Pasture 。。。more

Erikka ，

I can’t say enough about Johnson’s books。 He has such a unique way of thinking about the world， like Malcolm Gladwell。 This was a lovely little book about why we’re living longer， what adjacent possibles led to huge leaps in life span， and what work we have left to do。 It’s well researched， has excellent citations， and provides ample food for thought。 I really enjoyed this and discussing it with my husband。

Laura Hill ，

Thank you to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review。 The book will be published on May 11th， 2021。A compendium of the major advances in life expectancy throughout human history。 With an engaging， story-mixed-with-research style， Johnson devotes a chapter to each of the major contributions: Vaccines; Data and Epidemiology; Pasteurization and Chlorination; Regulations and Testing; Antibiotics; Safety Technology and Regulations; and Thank you to Riverhead Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review。 The book will be published on May 11th， 2021。A compendium of the major advances in life expectancy throughout human history。 With an engaging， story-mixed-with-research style， Johnson devotes a chapter to each of the major contributions: Vaccines; Data and Epidemiology; Pasteurization and Chlorination; Regulations and Testing; Antibiotics; Safety Technology and Regulations; and Anti-Famine Interventions。 While some of the stories were familiar to me， many of them were brand new。 Even those I was familiar with were actually new to me: I hadn’t been aware of quite how devastating the problems were or all the tangled issues that snaked their way through solution adoption on a widespread scale。The introduction states that the book is “a study in how meaningful change happens in society。” The ongoing theme is that it is the network of people and not just the genius that makes these massive changes possible — the journalists， activists， reformers， and amplifiers。 He hammers this point frequently， accusing society of “… condensing a complex network of agents into a single heroic scientist。” And it is interesting in every case — how long it took and how hard people worked to get a solution to a horrific problem actually adopted。 The last chapter focusses on the future — AI drug design; a cure for malaria; syndromic surveillance; animal surveillance to stop virus jumping; and immunotherapies for cancers。 There is some discussion of the negative impact on the planet of all these extra bodies but not much。 I would have liked at least a little discussion on the need for additional birth control giving the teeming state of the world’s population。The book makes for easy and engrossing reading。 The numbers involved are astonishing， and the stories from discovery to scale to distribution eye opening。 More intriguing than most fiction！ 。。。more