Outlive

The Science and Art of Longevity

By: Peter Attia MD, Bill Gifford - contributor

Narrated by: Peter Attia MD

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking manifesto on living better and longer that challenges the conventional medical thinking on aging and reveals a new approach to preventing chronic disease and extending long-term health, from a visionary physician and leading longevity expert

“One of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

Wouldn’t you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of aging that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late to help, prolonging lifespan at the expense of healthspan, or quality of life. Dr. Attia believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, one where we take action now, rather than waiting.

This is not “biohacking,” it’s science: a well-founded strategic and tactical approach to extending lifespan while also improving our physical, cognitive, and emotional health. Dr. Attia’s aim is less to tell you what to do and more to help you learn how to think about long-term health, in order to create the best plan for you as an individual. In Outlive, listeners will discover:

• Why the cholesterol test at your annual physical doesn’t tell you enough about your actual risk of dying from a heart attack.
• That you may already suffer from an extremely common yet underdiagnosed liver condition that could be a precursor to the chronic diseases of aging.
• Why exercise is the most potent pro-longevity “drug”—and how to begin training for the “Centenarian Decathlon.”
• Why you should forget about diets, and focus instead on nutritional biochemistry, using technology and data to personalize your eating pattern.
• Why striving for physical health and longevity, but ignoring emotional health, could be the ultimate curse of all.

Aging and longevity are far more malleable than we think; our fate is not set in stone. With the right roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of charts, graphs, and illustrations from the book, along with other valuable resources

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Peter Attia and Bill Gifford (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Outlive completely transformed my approach to growing old. Peter Attia is among the most brilliant people I’ve ever met, and he’s succeeded in packing a life’s worth of insights into this book. It promises to be one of the most important books you’ll ever read.”—Steven D. Levitt, New York Times bestselling author of Freakonomics

“In Outlive, Peter Attia explores the science of not just prolonging life, but also prolonging aliveness. Attia makes the crucial connection between overall health and relational health.”—Esther Perel, New York Times bestselling author, psychotherapist, and podcast host of Where Should We Begin?

“Finally, there is a modern, thorough, clear, and actionable manual for how to maximize our immediate and long-term health. Firmly grounded in data and real-life conditions, Outlive makes obvious which actions we all need to take, and just as important, what all we need to pay attention to in order to live a long, vital life. As the most accurate and comprehensive health guide published to date, Outlive is not just informative, it is important.”—Andrew Huberman, PhD, professor, Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, creator of the Huberman Lab podcast

Opened my eyes to my ultimate why

A wonderful guide to a better and possibly longer and more enjoyable life. I learnt so much and I hope I will start putting this matrix in place, beyond exercise, nutrition and sleep, practice emotional health that we so often neglect. It made revisit priorities in life and forced to think about my why

Didn't want the book to end

This book is incredible. It's well written, easy to follow, and the ending was unexpected and it really tied everything together. I'm really glad Peter narrated his book, by the end I was so sad it was over.

Suggesting why and organizing how

I’m a longtime “the drive” podcast fan who enjoys struggling through the technical aspects. Admittedly, I have skimmed some podcast areas that I viewed as mostly opinion… sleep how long? Exercise that much? Fast for days, really? This book brought it all together for me. I’m starting to see how it comes together. I’m beginning to change my mind. I’m seeing my life in a different way. I’m glad I read this book.

Absolutely great!

Incredibly helpful in understanding basic health and disease to help navigate my aging parents health and communicate with doctors in a more informed way. As well as helping me improve my own health.

I wish everyone would read/hear this book!

If you want to be healthy in the last 3 decades of your life, start now! Listen to this book. I'm modifying my routine because of this book.
I'm an ultra endurance athlete who recently turned 60. Now, it's time to incorporate stability and functional strength so I can continue to live an active life for the next 30+ years.

Rigor, evidence-based advice, and humanity

I was not expecting to love this book--just thought I might get some helpful food for thought and encouragement on my fitness and nutrition journey. (I'm a 50-something woman.) I did get good strategies for fighting "the gravity of aging," as the author puts it. But I was very surprised to get much more than that in the final chapter--a sober, wise, and very personal examination of how to care for one's emotional wellbeing.

My first introduction to Dr. Attia was when I listened to him talking about ketogenic diets (and I think other "optimization" topics) on Tim Ferriss's podcast years ago. (maybe 2014 or 2015ish?) I remember being somewhat awed by the elite-athlete and biohacking stuff he explained about, but also feeling like it was mainly directed a at certain type of Silicon Valley dude.

I almost didn't buy the book, thinking it might just be more cutting-edge physicality that feels out of reach for women who never had much athletic ability. I'm so glad I kept an open mind. I was blown away by the the author's smarts, logic, good explanations, sage medical guidance, and overall kindness and humanity. I got many good ideas for what to pursue next (and what to avoid) in my own physical goal-setting. But Attia's candor and transparency about his own emotional recovery journey affected me most profoundly. I feel like I heard from a medical expert who actually wants to help me live a more vibrant life. And whose own story I can respect and admire. That's pretty rare. Thank you for writing this book, Dr. Attia.

So good you will read/listen to this twice.

Peter does an amazing job of taking a subjective look at how we age, what can go wrong along the way and how to extend your lifespan while remaining functional so you can enjoy the last decade of your life. The book is so good and so full of information you will want to read it twice. After listening to the audiobook, I ordered a hard copy so I can read it again, take notes along the way and utilize the advice given by the author. If you’re browsing titles in this space look no further, this is the one to read. Enjoy!

Health for a Lifetime for Ordinary People

Peter Attia hit it out of the park. So easy to understand and strategic advise that all can implement in their daily lives. I am gifting to my friends and family.

My friends don’t want to be around me

My friends and acquaintances don’t want to be around me because all I talk about is this book!!
Dr Attia takes all of the information from the many many books I’ve read on health and fitness over the past years and helps to bring it all full circle and make sense out of everything.
I’ll probably listen to it several more times so that I can be sure to get every morsel I can out of this book.
Thank you Dr Attia!!!

Maybe the best book I've ever read

I'm so lucky to have found this book. It is so good in so many ways that I'll not extend myself saying it all here; more qualified people have already done that. It suffices to say that from the hundreds of non-fiction books I've ever read, this one is easily top 3. The advice is actionable, I'm already doing things differently (specially in exercise). The last chapter on emotional health is a gift, brought me into tears, and I don't remember another non-fiction book to have ever done that. Already bought a copie to my brother, and waiting for the portuguese translation to gift my parents, my girlfriend, and my closest friends.