Longevity: The Biology and Demography of Life Span - Hardcover

"I strongly recommend the book to researchers, students, and other readers interested in longevity and aging. . . . Both the experimental findings and the theoretical discussions in this book are new and important contributions to our understanding of life span."--Shiro Horiuchi, Population and Development Review

"This book definitively announces a scientific revolution in our
understanding of life history, aging, demography, and kindred subjects. . . . Longevity is one of those rare scientific books that has something both important and new to say."--Michael R. Rose, Bioscience

"Not only a fascinating tour of a major research initiative, but also an informative record of how science actually works. I read it with growing interest as the questions and problems unfolded with each new chapter."--John Speakman, Biologist

Despite our deep interest in mortality, little is known about why some individuals live to middle age and others to extreme old age. Life span, mortality, and aging present some of the most profound mysteries in biology. In Longevity, James Carey draws on unprecedented data to develop a biological and demographic framework for identifying the key factors that govern aging, life span, and mortality in humans and other animals.

Carey presents the results of a monumental, twelve-year, National Institute on Aging-funded research project on the determinants of longevity using data from the life tables of five million Mediterranean fruit flies, the most comprehensive set of life table studies ever on the mortality dynamics of a single species. He interprets the fruit fly data within the context of human aging and the aging process in general to identify the determinants of mortality. Three key themes emerge: the absence of species-specific life span limits, the context-specific nature of the mortality rate, and biodemographic linkages between longevity and reproduction.

A powerful foundation for the emerging field of biodemography and a rich framework for considering the future of human life span, Longevity will be an indispensable resource for readers from a range of fields including population biology, demography, gerontology, ecology, evolutionary biology, and medical research.