# Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization - Hardcover

by **Stephen Cave** (Author)

**If you could live forever, would you want to? Both a fascinating look at the history of our strive for immortality and an investigation into whether living forever is really all it's cracked up to be.**

A fascinating work of popular philosophy and history that both enlightens and entertains, Stephen Cave investigates whether it just might be possible to live forever and whether we should want to. He also makes a powerful argument that it's our very _preoccupation_ with defying mortality that drives civilization.

Central to this book is the metaphor of a mountaintop where one can find the Immortals. Since the dawn of humanity, everyone - whether they know it or not--has been trying to climb that mountain. But there are only four paths up its treacherous slope, and there have only _ever_ been four paths. Throughout history, people have wagered everything on their choice of the correct path, and fought wars against those who've chosen differently.

In drawing back the curtain on what compels humans to "keep on keeping on," Cave engages the reader in a number of mind-bending thought experiments. He teases out the implications of each immortality gambit, asking, for example, how long a person would live if they _did_ manage to acquire a perfectly disease-free body. Or what would happen if a super-being tried to round up the atomic constituents of all who've died in order to resurrect them. Or what our loved ones would really be doing in heaven if it _does_ exist.

We're confronted with a series of brain-rattling questions: What would happen if tomorrow humanity discovered that there is no life but this one? Would people continue to please their boss, vie for the title of Year's Best Salesman_?_ Would three-hundred-year projects still get started? If the four paths up the Mount of the Immortals lead nowhere--if there is no getting up to the summit--is there _still_ reason to live? And can civilization survive?

_Immortality_ is a deeply satisfying book, as optimistic about the human condition as it is insightful about the true arc of history.

### Author Biography

Stephen Cave holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Cambridge University and, before turning to full-time writing, worked as a diplomat. He writes regularly for the _Financial Times_ and also contributes to the _New York Times._

**Number of Pages:** 336

**Dimensions:** 1.2 x 9.4 x 6.3 IN

**Publication Date:** April 03, 2012

## Details

- **Price:** 25.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 25.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/immortality-the-quest-to-live-forever-and-how-it-drives-civilization-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-21