Cheating Time: Science, Sex, and Aging

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: This book provides a non-technical overview of the role that sex hormones play in aging. The title led me to think that the book would address the entire field of aging; however, it mostly focuses on the relation of sex hormones to aging. The first five chapters actually do summarize the general subject of the science of aging, but the information contained in these chapters is covered in more detail in other books (see Steven Austad's 1997 book, for instance). However, starting with chapter 6, Gosden hones his focus more specifically on the sex hormones and how they affect aging. He presents the story of the discovery of the sex hormones, starting with investigations by Brown-Séquard in 1889. In the remaining chapters, Gosden interweaves the history of sex hormones with recent discoveries about how they affect aging. The book is written for general audiences, so there are no in-text citations, although Gosden provides a chapter-by-chapter list of suggested readings at the end.