''Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever'' ( Rodale Books, ) is a book authored by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman published in 2004. The basic premise of the book is that if

middle age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

d people can live long enough, until approximately 120 years, they will be able to live forever—as humanity overcomes all diseases and

old age Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

itself. This might also be considered a

break-even Break-even (or break even), often abbreviated as B/E in finance, (sometimes called point of equilibrium) is the point of balance making neither a profit nor a loss. Any number below the break-even point constitutes a loss while any number above i ...

scenario where developments made during a year increase life expectancy by more than one year. Biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey called this the " Longevity escape velocity" in a 2005 TED talk. The book focuses primarily on health topics such as

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. It promotes lifestyle changes such as a low glycemic index diet, calorie restriction,

exercise Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...

, drinking

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since the ...

and alkalinized water, and other changes to daily living. They also promote aggressive supplementation to make up for nutrient deficiencies they believe are common in Western society. In contrast to his previous book '' The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life'', in which he recommended a diet with 10% of calories from fat, in this book, Kurzweil recommends consuming less than one third of calories from carbohydrates (and less than one sixth of calories in his low-carbohydrate diet) and consuming 25% of calories from fat. The book states that the purpose of these changes is to obtain and maintain idyllic health so that an individual can extend his or her life as long as possible. The authors believe that within the next 20 to 50 years technology will advance to the point where much of the

aging process Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

will be conquered, and

degenerative diseases Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting biological tissue, tissues or Organ (anatomy), organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time. In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of ...

eliminated. The book is peppered with side notes on these futuristic topics, showing how current research is leading us toward

life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human life expectancy, lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled oldest people, limit of 125 years. S ...

, and explaining how future technologies such as

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

and

bioengineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...

might change the way humans live their lives. Ray Kurzweil discusses these topics at further length in his 2005 book '' The Singularity Is Near''. A follow-up on ''Fantastic Voyage'', ''Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever'', was released on April 28, 2009.

Organization

*Chapter 1: You can live long enough to live forever *Chapter 2: The bridges to come *Chapter 3: Our personal journeys *Chapter 4: Food and water *Chapter 5: Carbohydrates and the glycemic load *Chapter 6: Fat and protein *Chapter 7: You are what you digest *Chapter 8: Change your weight for life in one day *Chapter 9: The problem with sugar (and insulin) *Chapter 10: Ray's personal program *Chapter 11: The promise of genomics *Chapter 12: Inflammation—the latest "smoking gun" *Chapter 13: Methylation—critically important to your health *Chapter 14: Cleaning up the mess: Toxins and detoxification *Chapter 15: The real cause of heart disease and how to prevent it *Chapter 16: The prevention and early detection of cancer *Chapter 17: Terry's personal program *Chapter 18: Your brain: The power of thinking...and of ideas *Chapter 19: Hormones and aging, hormones of youth *Chapter 20: Other hormones of youth: Sex hormones *Chapter 21: Aggressive supplementation *Chapter 22: Keep moving: The power of exercise *Chapter 23: Stress and balance *Epilogue

Criticisms

One claim in the book has been called pseudoscientific. Dr. Stephen Lower, retired Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University, disputes some of the book's statements about alkaline water, claiming that "Ionized water" is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists." Kurzweil and Grossman counter this specific criticism directly in their Reader Q&A.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Forever 2004 non-fiction books Biogerontology Biomedical engineering Books about life extension Books by Ray Kurzweil Medical books Rodale, Inc. books Technology books

Organization

Criticisms

See also

References

External links