I have been listening to The Drive which is the podcast by Peter Attia for a while now. I am interested in human biology and performance mostly as it pertains to my own athletic goals. However as I am starting to get older, the idea of aging and what it means has started to be more relevant and thus I have gotten more into the concepts around longevity. I figured why not pick up the book Outlive and see how all of that material is condensed into prose.

First, I do not really recommend this book if you have listened to all the podcasts and think that you more or less have a solid first order understanding of what is discussed there. This book is a survey and it is more suited to the person who hasn't already been exposed to this ideas.

However, the book qua book is pretty good. The writing is clear and entertaining. It gets the point across with enough detail to be more or less correct while not being overly pedantic/technical or too surface level. I think it strikes the right balance and is therefore an amazing resource for someone who knows nothing about the biology of aging or human disease and is interested in feeling better. I do think there is a lot more depth that one could go in if they so desire, but as a survey/primer this is an excellent resource.

In my own life I am taking care of 90% of the behaviors that one can so I didn't really feel like it changed me that much. The last chapter on emotional health though is one that I needed to read and is the one that will probably have the biggest impact on me going forward.