The Longevity Delusion is a book by Seamus O’Mahony in which he explores the longevity movement. It is due to be published today (the 8th of October) by Head of Zeus. I was provided with a review copy by the publishers.

Blurb:

The search for a world in which old age is a curable disease, and death is optional, unites billionaires, politicians and celebrities. 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 sceptical 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. The antidotes: expensive 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 longevity is a delusion, and why this industry is unlikely to find a real solution to the inevitability of ageing.

This narrative takes O’Mahony’s investigation deep into the world of longevity ‘experts’ as he attends their conferences and meets these infamous figures in their natural habitats. He has a gift for witty caricatures, stunning anecdotes and countering misinformation with clarity, reason and research. This is investigative writing at its best.

Review:

Seamus O’Mahony’s The Longevity Delusion is basically him wandering through the modern anti‑ageing industry with a raised eyebrow and a notebook. He goes to the conferences where men in expensive trainers promise to “reverse ageing” with peptides, cold plunges, and whatever supplement is fashionable this quarter. He sits through the talks where Silicon Valley types insist death is just a technical problem and billionaires describe the quest for immortality like it’s a start‑up.

O’Mahony’s point isn’t subtle: most of this is bad science wrapped in decent marketing. He picks apart the claims about NMN, resveratrol, metformin, fasting mimetics, stem‑cell clinics, and the whole “ageing is a disease” movement. He’s particularly sharp on the way longevity research gets distorted once venture capital gets involved, where suddenly every molecule is a miracle, every mouse study is a breakthrough, and every guru is a visionary. He’s also good at showing how the industry feeds on fear, whether that is of decline, irrelevance, or just of being ordinary. Heaven forbid…

The book’s best moments come when he stops summarising the hype and starts describing the people behind it. O’Mahony isn’t cruel with these people, but he’s not impressed either. He’s a clinician watching a cultural fever spread.

I would not call this a hopeful book, but then it’s not trying to be. What we’ve got is a reminder that ageing is biological and definitely not optional, and that pretending otherwise mostly just benefits the people selling the “cure”.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars