Time, Cells, and Aging

As the basis for his excellent and informative monograph, Dr. Strehler has reviewed a vast heterogenous literature and assembled the information in logical and orderly sequence. Our knowledge of aging processes has come from disciplines as varied as anthropology, biochemistry, and clinical medicine. From all these sources the author draws his material, although his emphasis is on the cellular processes of aging. He propounds no major unifying concept of aging, but reviews a variety of mechanisms and the observations that support them. The aging process has fascinated the layman and the philosopher, and from the earliest times immortality has figured prominently in man's mythology and religions. Yet the scientific study of aging processes has been sporadic and frequently tangential to the primary goals of the scientist. Dr. Strehler in his closing section urges more research on aging processes, and certainly his book should strengthen the scientific discipline of gerontology. This book is well-written, but the intensity of information does not lend itself to casual reading. Gerontologists are, as the author deplores, quite sparse in the scientific community, and this reviewer hopes that this monograph is not relegated to that small group. Since gerontology is one of the disciplines that crosses traditional boundaries, workers in virtually all areas of biological science can benefit from the book, and perhaps see their fields from somewhat different perspectives.