The Library of Longevity, Vol. 1
KYST Picks: Three books that explore the search for optimal aging on 'Earth'
Greetingsā¦ and welcome to the first edition of KYST Picks - my weekly round-up of inspirations to help keep your shit together.
BLUE MIND - By Wallace J. Nichols
The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do
Ok, I know Iām the target market here, but every word in that lengthy subtitle is true. And you donāt have to be a swimmer or own beachfront property to get it. The world is over 70% water. The vast majority of the global population lives within sixty miles of it. Over 500 million people owe their careers directly to water (including yours truly). Science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, once pointed out how inappropriate it is for this planet to be called āEarthā; its rightful name is āOceanā. Seen from a million miles away, itās a blue marble. The bookās author, Wallace Nichols, who passed tragically last summer, liked to hand out blue marbles as a reminder. We are, quite literally, hard-wired to be connected with it. Our brains weigh about three pounds, and 80% of that is water. Blue minds, indeed. Water: it calms, it cures, it inspires, it is life itself.
JELLYFISH AGE BACKWARDS - By Nicklas Brendborg
Natureās Secrets to Longevity
You may as well throw a dinner party upon finishing this - because youāre going to be dying to share the countless mind-blowing anecdotes that fill this bizarre book. The titleās namesake is a thumbnail-sized jellyfish named Turritopsis. (Friends call him Benjamin Button; favorite song is Dylanās āMy Back Pagesāā¦) Little Turritopsis does indeed age backwards: when presented with threatening stress, itās able to revert from adult form to the polyp stage, effectively rejuvenating its life ad nauseam. This isnāt even the most mind-blowing creature in the book. The author actually spends relatively few pages on it. Wait till you meet the Greenland shark, the bowhead whale, and best of all, the freakish and revolting and utterly fascinating ānaked mole-rat.ā And thatās just from chapter one. Read on to discover the myriad longevity secrets hiding all over the natural world.
WELL BEINGS - By James Riley
How the Seventies Lost its Mind and Taught Us to Find Ourselves
How has āwellnessā been seemingly hijacked by the very rich and out-of-touch? It all goes back to the hangover from the sixties. Well, it goes back a lot farther than that, but author James Riley makes a convincing case that the āMe Decadeā set the stage for our weird 21st century world of wellness. Boomers did their best in the turbulent, happening sixties, but in the disillusioned decade that followed, it became all about looking inward. From floatation tanks to cult-y coastal āinstitutesā to John Lennonās bleak rock of a private island to plenty of present-day Goop bashing, the author dives down every rabbit hole until youāre left wondering about the whole human condition. Somewhere along the line in the seventies, self-knowledge and self-obsession became intertwined, and we havenāt been the same since. Half a century later, it makes some sense that the most titanically selfish beings alive - ie billionaires - would be the heirs to this slippery throne. After all, what do you get the guy who has everything? More years to spend it.
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