Why Do We Die?

One hundred years ago, a British physician sat down to answer humanity's oldest question: why do we die? What emerged was not a grim treatise but a surprisingly hopeful meditation on human vitality, the body's remarkable resilience, and the revolutionary idea that we might have some say in how long we live. Bodley Scott examines death through the lens of early 20th-century medicine - arterio-sclerosis, cardiovascular health, the toll of modern stress - yet his real inquiry cuts deeper. What if death isn't merely fate? What if our lifestyles, our choices, our relationship with our doctors could reshape the very trajectory of our lives? Written for both the medical establishment and curious general readers, this book captures a pivotal moment when humanity began to believe that longevity wasn't predetermined. It offers a window into how our ancestors imagined their mortality, revealing both striking similarities and disorienting differences from our own assumptions about health and survival.