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Extra life : a short history of living longer / Steven Johnson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Riverhead Books, 2021Description: xxxiv, 284 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525538851
  • 0525538852
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
The long ceiling: measuring life expectancy -- The catalogue of evils: variolation and vaccines -- Vital statistics: Data and epidemiology -- Safe as milk: pasteurization and chlorination -- Beyond the placebo effect: drug regulation and testing -- The old that changed the world: antibiotics -- Egg drops and rocket sleds: automobile and industrial safety -- Feed the world: the decline of famine.
Introduction: Twenty thousand days -- The long ceiling: measuring life expectancy -- The catalogue of evils: variolation and vaccines -- Vital statistics: data and epidemiology -- Safe as milk: pasteurization and chlorination -- Beyond the placebo effect: drug regulation and testing -- The mold that changed the world: antibiotics -- Egg drops and rocket sleds: automobile and industrial safety -- Feed the world: the decline of the famine -- Conclusion: Bhola Island, revisited.
Summary: "As a species, humans have doubled their life expectancy in one hundred years. Medical breakthroughs, public health institutions, rising standards of living, and the other advances of modern life have given each person about 20,000 extra days on average. This book attempts to help the reader understand where that progress came from and what forces keep people alive longer. The author also considers how to avoid decreases in life expectancy as public health systems face unprecedented challenges, and what current technologies or interventions could reduce the impact of future crises. This work illuminates the power of common goals and public resources; the work of activists struggling for reform, and of scientists sharing their findings open-source-style; and of non-profit agencies spreading innovations around the world"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 362.1 J69 Available 33111009808979
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 362.1 J69 Available 33111010513733
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

As a species we have doubled our life expectancy in just one hundred years. All the advances of modern life - the medical breakthroughs, the public health institutions, the rising standards of living - have given us each about twenty thousand extra days on average. There are few measures of human progress more astonishing than our increased longevity. This book is Steven Johnson's attempt to understand where that progress came from. How many of those extra days came from vaccines? What are the forces that now keep us alive longer? Behind each breakthrough lies an inspiring story of innovation.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-274) and index.

The long ceiling: measuring life expectancy -- The catalogue of evils: variolation and vaccines -- Vital statistics: Data and epidemiology -- Safe as milk: pasteurization and chlorination -- Beyond the placebo effect: drug regulation and testing -- The old that changed the world: antibiotics -- Egg drops and rocket sleds: automobile and industrial safety -- Feed the world: the decline of famine.

"Now a PBS documentary series" -- cover.

Introduction: Twenty thousand days -- The long ceiling: measuring life expectancy -- The catalogue of evils: variolation and vaccines -- Vital statistics: data and epidemiology -- Safe as milk: pasteurization and chlorination -- Beyond the placebo effect: drug regulation and testing -- The mold that changed the world: antibiotics -- Egg drops and rocket sleds: automobile and industrial safety -- Feed the world: the decline of the famine -- Conclusion: Bhola Island, revisited.

"As a species, humans have doubled their life expectancy in one hundred years. Medical breakthroughs, public health institutions, rising standards of living, and the other advances of modern life have given each person about 20,000 extra days on average. This book attempts to help the reader understand where that progress came from and what forces keep people alive longer. The author also considers how to avoid decreases in life expectancy as public health systems face unprecedented challenges, and what current technologies or interventions could reduce the impact of future crises. This work illuminates the power of common goals and public resources; the work of activists struggling for reform, and of scientists sharing their findings open-source-style; and of non-profit agencies spreading innovations around the world"-- Provided by publisher.

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