The Immortalists

The Race for Eternal Life

Aleks Krotoski author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Publishing:14th Jan '27

£12.99

This title is due to be published on 14th January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.

This paperback is available in another edition too:

The Immortalists cover

A wild and thrilling investigation into the business of eternal life

'A fascinating, deeply reported adventure' Oliver Burkeman
'Riveting'Daily Mail
'Brilliantly troubling ... eye-opening' New Scientist
'Entertaining and insightful' Financial Times
'Utterly compelling' New Statesman

The titans of Silicon Valley are building the fountain of youth: one they not only engineer, but also own and control. By harnessing technology to ‘cure’ ageing, and investing in cutting-edge – and often controversial – research, these immortalists are locked in an arms race to pocket the profits of longevity.

Award-winning broadcaster and academic Aleks Krotoski journeys from cult fringes to the heartlands of government to meet the moguls, effective altruists, geroscientists and entrepreneurs who are disrupting death. Along the way she encounters radical life extensionists transfusing modified plasma, transhumanists determined to upload consciousness to the cloud, biohackers flogging AI-powered wellness apps and tech bros founding brand-new nations.

What was once humanity’s oldest dream is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most lucrative industries. But what does it mean when a handful of billionaires become the architects of our forever?

A Telegraph Book of the Year

Eye-opening, entertaining and disturbing … [A] highly readable and meticulously researched book … Krotoski's goal is to open people’s eyes to what is going on so they can make up their own minds. She does it brilliantly -- Graham Lawton * New Scientist *
A fascinating, deeply reported adventure among the increasingly influential figures who believe they can defeat death – and a warning not to let dreams of tech-enabled immortality stop us building a more vibrant human world here and now -- Oliver Burkeman
An elegant, gripping expedition into the technological apotheosis of an ancient dream. Can technology gift us immortality? In Krotoski's hands, this question is neither a promise nor a warning, but a meditation on what truly matters -- Tom Chatfield
Brilliant, painstakingly researched and altogether a wonderful read, Aleks Krotoski serves up an essential parable for our digital times -- Kevin Fong
Aleks Krotoski, an award-winning broadcaster, academic, and technology reporter, has cast her eye over living for ever … Krotoski’s riveting book ends with a poignant account of the deaths of her father and stepmother. While the immortalists resist death, it will come to us all. The only thing we can try to control is how we face it -- Roger Alton * Daily Mail *
Fascinating … The new titans of tech wish to be as immortal as the Titans of legend. The award-wining journalist Aleks Krotoski wryly documents their antics in her new book The Immortalists … An entertaining and insightful account of those who believe the end of ageing is within our grasp -- Stephen Cave * Financial Times *
Life extensionists like Bryan Johnson want to live forever. But at what cost? … Aleks Krotoski, a psychologist and veteran chronicler of the tech industry, is well positioned to investigate and explain the phenomenon … as well as its social consequences -- James Ball * Guardian *
Aleks Krotoski’s fascinating new book penetrates deep into the heart of the Silicon Valley … it rises above the wellness rituals themselves and looks squarely at the metaphysics that animates them: the conviction that the human is decomposable into variables that computation and chemistry can optimise. The author's reporting around that conviction – its origins in grief and fear, its transmutation into a public liturgy of confidence – is utterly compelling -- Justin Smith-Ruiu * New Statesman *

ISBN: 9781529945232

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 35mm

Weight: 500g

320 pages