Not a word of thanks can be written on this page until it is written first for Cyndy, my wife, best friend, and the core of our family. Without her, none of this manuscript would have been possible. Cyn sometimes told me, “You know this book about immortality is going to kill you.” But I suspect it was harder on her than me. She had to put up with my insane travel, my antics, the incessant barrage of this idea or that problem or the latest finding tossed at her daily. And yet she always willingly peeled her eyelids when I asked her, once again, to read another version of the manuscript. Cyndy is one of the best reasons why living 300 or 400 years would be a good thing. She is positive proof that there is hope for the human race if we can just be like her—insightful, warm, intelligent, patient, and loving. The same goes for our children, Molly, Steven, Hannah, and Annie, all four of whom have supported me from the first kernel of this idea to its completion.
Many others, of course, helped bring Immortality, Inc. to fruition. My deepest thanks to the National Geographic Society and the Society’s director of expeditions, Rebecca Martin, whose grant supported this project from the start, even though it didn’t stack up as a “classic” National Geographic expedition. Without this backing, I would never have been able research this book as deeply as I did. To Rob McQuilkin, my agent, I am profoundly grateful. The word “calm” should be in Rob’s middle name, or maybe “intelligent” or “insightful.” His personal and editorial support have been invaluable, and this book would not exist if not for his help. I am also deeply indebted to the editors at National Geographic Partners who backed the idea for this book and its many tangled themes rather than forcing it to become a straight-out science or how-to book. Susan Hitchcock, Immortality’s editor, has been extraordinarily strong and dedicated. Throughout, she held fast to the book’s story and core goals, and never gave up helping to make the book better right up to the final manuscript. The same goes for Hilary Black, an insightful supporter from start to finish, and Bill Strachan, who helped advance the book’s overall arc.
I also want to thank Sanjana Bendi, University of Pittsburgh student and doctor-to-be, for managing to accurately transcribe hours upon hours of interviews. No matter how complex the material or how garbled the conversations, she always managed to deliver excellent transcriptions of my stumbling efforts. To my friends and trusted readers, I will always be grateful. Reading is incredibly time consuming. Reading more than one version of a manuscript is doubly so (or worse), yet Eric Ruben, Fran Johns, Cheryl Pierce, Wendy Roberts, and my daughters Molly and Hannah Walter all took the time to provide me honest and insightful feedback.
Finally, thank you to all of the people I harangued and pestered and tracked down for the interviews needed to write this book. These include many hours of meetings, phone calls, and emails with Ray Kurzweil, Arthur Levinson, Craig Venter, Aubrey de Grey, Robert Hariri, as well as long sessions with Bill Maris, David Botstein, Hal Barron, Cynthia Kenyon, Daphne Koller, Amalio Telenti, Riccardo Sabatini, Ken Bloom, Brad Perkins, Heather Kowalski, Max More, Natasha Vita-More, and many others. A special thanks to Aimee Markey at Calico Labs for arranging so many meetings. In the earliest days of this quest, Ray Kurzweil was especially helpful, not only in making himself available, but by providing initial access to Art Levinson and Craig Venter.
All of these people helped me create the book I set out to write. If anything good came of it, you have them to thank. But if you find any mistakes, that’s on me.