I’ve never been someone who says “wishing you a long life” on birthdays. I’d rather wish someone a meaningful life. Especially now, looking at the world we live in, I find myself thinking less about how long we can live and more about what kind of life we’re living in the first place. Stretching our years only makes sense if we know what we’re stretching them for.
I’ve read my fair share of books on longevity. Most of them follow the same path: tips for staying young, avoiding disease, living stress-free, and following all the latest wellness trends. So when I picked up The End of Ageing by Thomas Ramge, I figured I already knew more or less what it would say.
But I was wrong, in the best possible way.
The book opens not with stats or medical jargon, but with a fictional story. It’s told from the perspective of someone who has lived to be 200 years old. Sounds a bit sci-fi, but it completely pulled me in. This character shares what it really feels like to live that long: how time drags when death isn’t on the horizon, how strange it is to watch economies adjust (like central banks keeping interest rates low forever), and how heavy it can be to carry the moral weight of such a long life when most of society isn’t built to handle it. It felt more like reading a novel than a nonfiction book, and that human element made it all hit so much deeper.
That was the moment I knew The End of Ageing was going to be different. So many books focus on the physical aspects of aging, but this one zooms out to ask bigger questions: about us, about society, and about what it means to grow old in a world that often worships youth. It made me think: forget about living to 200, how many of us are even ready for retirement? In a world where our jobs are so tightly linked to our identities, it’s no wonder that so many people feel lost when they age out of the workforce.
The book doesn’t stop at the big, philosophical stuff only. It raises the practical questions too. What happens to pension systems when people live way longer than expected? Will governments need to reinvent how they manage money? And will these future longevity treatments only be available to the rich or people in certain parts of the world? One question that intrigued me was whether we can finally let go of the idea that only youth matters. That outdated mindset holds us back more than we realize.
There are other, subtler ideas explored too, like how time seems to speed up as we get older, something researchers call “subjective time acceleration.” There’s also a brief but insightful explanation about the biology behind aging and why our bodies break down the way they do.
The older I get, the more I see how hard it can be to stay curious and open to new experiences. Many of us sometimes struggle to keep up emotionally and mentally with how fast the world is changing. And the bitter truth is, a long life isn’t just about health and science. It’s about whether we can adapt, grow, and stay connected in a world that sadly isn’t always designed to support those things.
We’re living in a time where everyone’s talking about longevity, from supplements and superfoods to biotech breakthroughs. But very few of us are actually stopping to ask what all this means for us as individuals, families, and communities. I’m really glad this book did. I can’t recommend The End of Ageing enough, especially if you’ve ever found yourself chasing a longer life without really thinking about what kind of life you want to lead, for yourself as well as for society.
Summary
Why Living Longer Isn’t Just About Health. It’s About Humanity’s Future
The science of living longer intersects with something called longtermism. Longtermism is the idea that we should care not only about the present but also about the distant future. It argues that the well-being of future generations should be a central part of the decisions we make today. In other words, the biggest challenge facing humanity isn’t overpopulation or even disease, it’s making sure we survive long enough to reach our full potential as a species.
This is where longevity comes in. If we live longer, we don’t just buy ourselves more time, we gain the chance to think further ahead. Longer lives make it possible for us to preserve and build on knowledge across generations. People might plan not just for the next quarter or election cycle, but for decades, or even centuries, into the future.
Why Time Feels Like It Speeds Up as We Age
Have you ever noticed how the years seem to fly by faster as you get older? This strange feeling is a real phenomenon called subjective time acceleration, and it’s backed by science.
One explanation is something known as the proportional theory. When you’re five years old, a single year is a huge portion of your life, 20% of it, in fact. But by the time you’re 50, one year is just 2%. As we age, each new year feels shorter because it’s a smaller piece of the whole picture.
Another reason has to do with how our brains work. As we get older, the brain naturally slows down in how quickly it processes new experiences. We also form fewer new, vivid memories, especially compared to childhood and young adulthood when everything feels fresh. Without those standout moments, time can feel like it’s slipping past more quickly.
The Dark Side of Living Longer
While the idea of extreme longevity can sound exciting, fiction often reminds us that it comes with serious downsides, and many of them are worth taking seriously.
Common themes include psychological isolation, loss of purpose, and the mental strain of carrying too many memories. On a larger scale, living much longer could lead to growing social inequality, generational tension, and even identity crises. Resource competition and cultural stagnation might also follow if older generations never make space for new ones.
Thanks a lot to Anthem Press for sending me an early copy of this amazing book in exchange for an honest review!
Author: Thomas Ramge
Publication date: 15 July 2025
Number of pages: 128 pages
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