I thought it might be useful to create a dedicated thread where we can leave our thoughts on PA’s new book.
I’ve just finished Chapter 5 aka the ‘Rapamycin chapter’… I had to chuckle at the subtle digs at other populist figures in the longevity space.
Hmmm… Chapter 5 is probably the only part I would be interested in reading. I subscribed to his personal advice - and it is all good, but nothing really new on a variety of topics (diet, exercise, mental health…). I get something new from him by email every few weeks.
There’s probably nothing new left. It’s all about the same eternal wisdoms: eat (less), sleep (well), exercise (more), breath (clean air) + some “don’ts” (don’t smoke, don’t abuse alcohol, drugs, etc) + some “do”s (take the right supplements, socialize, meditate, etc). What’s left out? Anybody with the right degree and popular name could produce a book about longevity 
What we need is not another book about the same old stuff, but a discovery! Hope it’s on its way.
Agree, nothing new for us but for laymen and skeptical physicians and medical professionals its an approachable form of communicating longevity science.
Thank you! I was hoping to see a nice thread!
To bring it to laymen is easy: to do that it has to become part of secondary education.
Interestingly enough, I just discovered that “Outlive” is actually Peter’s second book. Below is the first…
Peter Attia - Hopkins General Surgery Review Manual (2005).pdf (5.8 MB)
News Coverage:
I had pre-ordered his book but I cancelled before it shipped. The information I get here is so good and more current so I don’t think it’s necessary.
Several commenters here are saying things along the lines that “we already know what he’s going to say about diet, exercise, sleep, mental health” — podcast listeners will also know much about his thoughts around different medications — “so we don’t need to read his book.” With the caveat that I’ve only just started, I think that’s grounded on a misunderstanding of what the book is about.
He doesn’t emphasize it so much in the week-to-week podcast, but Attia is always rigorous about separating strategy from tactics, and about developing frameworks for approaching different problems. The main point of the book (as I understand it from the intro and also the podcast episode all about the book itself ) is not to give you a list of tactical minutiae (though it will cover those) but about strategy: how to think about the goal and how to approach different problems and choices in relation to that goal.
So even if you really do know and are practicing many of the tactics he’ll talk about in the book, you may still get a lot of benefit from internalizing his rigorous method of approaching the entire problem of making the ascent of your personal longevity Everest, and the future choices you’ll face along the way that you can’t even guess at yet or that are too specific to you to ever be covered in a general-purpose book or podcast.
I didn’t notice anything in the book about Acarbose or Canagliflozin
No - its interesting, he doesn’t cover those two molecules at all.
People are jumping on the “Outlive” bandwagon… a new cookbook that riff’s on Peter’s new book:
https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Diet-Recipes-Delicious-Healthy/dp/1959581139/
Grifters gotta grift.
I’m listening to the book now and am enjoying it a lot. While not much new info for the very well informed folks here, I think it will be very useful to the general public both as a good source of education and a call to action. I definitely learned more about Peter himself - see a recent episode with him on Rich Roll’s podcast for a discussion of the mental health chapter (which humanizes him a lot).
Also, I get a kick out of his speaking style, and frequent allusions to physical combat and combatants like Muhammed Ali, George Forman, and Bruce Lee while nerding out on the details of cholesterol and the like. Period. Full Stop.
Attia does cover framework and strategy in the book. I wanted there to be a great deal more about specific tactics particularly in the areas of nutrition and “exogenous chemicals”. I think that given the very nature of this site, most people here wanted more of that information in the book. The book is very far from the complete treatment of the subject of longevity that I had hoped for.
That’s disappointing …
Peter Attia has recently done the podcast rounds to promote the book:
I haven’t listened to any of these yet, but the consensus of JRE Redditors is that the JRE interview is a total waste of time, with the blame being Rogan’s rather than Attia’s.
You can apply to be his patient.
Then he will provide you with all the answers to your questions.