Interviews and Reviews

“A beautiful, illuminating opus… An almost Odyssean quest to discover the meaning of immortality… Such a magical mystery ride.— The Toronto Star.

“Highly enjoyable,” writes The Wall Street Journal. “Exquisite moments of offbeat comedy… Mr. Gollner is a fine wordsmith. Part Mary Roach, part Joe Strummer of the Clash, he injects punk energy and invention into the genre of quirky scientific nonfiction. Long may he write.”

Parade calls The Book of Immortality an “engrossing look at the way centuries of humans have sought the secret to eternal life through religion, magic, and science.”

The Book of Immortality is reviewed in one of my favorite science magazines, Discover

The Globe and Mail highlights “Gollner’s meticulous eye for absurd detail” and calls the book “everything a reader could want from a non-fiction immersion in the ‘science, belief and magic behind living forever.‘”

This front-page feature by Sarah Boesveld at _The National Pos_t. offers a good overview of the book, calling it “An intensive exploration of belief in immortality, the things people do to try to claim it, the reasons they succumb to quackery, submit to mythologies, have faith in science that has never been able to stop the aging process or grant eternal life.” The Post also reviewed the book, calling it an “entertaining romp through the historical and contemporary Elysium Fields promised by science, religion and magic.” Read it here

Reader’s Digest Canada made the book an editor’s choice, alongside running a 15-page excerpt.

“Lively and wide-ranging… a study that strikes a perfect balance between intellectual inquiry and personal quest,” says the Montreal Gazette’s Ian McGillis. Read the full story here

“Insane,” says GQ, in their list of the 8 Things You Need To Watch, Hear, and Read This Week.

Publisher’s Weekly, who already wrote an excellent review of the book here deemed The Book of Immortality to be one of the “best new books of the week.”

Sohrab Ahmari of The Wall Street Journal also reviewed the book for NY1. “It’s this world of latter-day spiritualists, pseudo-scientists and assorted cranks that Adam Gollner explores with sharp reporting and good humor in The Book of Immortality.”

Flaunt Magazine points out that “When (and if, right?) Gollner dies, it’s going to be even more special, because he will be the guy who wrote about not-dying.”

“Gollner’s a great storyteller, and while the topic is both heavy and deep… his text slides fluidly between philosophical, folkloric, theological and scientific discourses,” explains Cult Montreal. “He depicts his subjects earnestly, refusing to merely flatten them into a parade of quacks — which is impressive.”

In conversation with Kate Tuttle at The Boston Globe about our undying belief in cheating death.

Cruising Montreal searching for the meaning of life with Emily Raine for Hazlitt

The Winnipeg Free Press points out that “Gollner’s journey is not linear; it meanders and flows, like the water often used to symbolize endless death and rebirth.” That was precisely what I hoped the narrative would do: flow “like water.”

I also had the pleasure of being interviewed by two of the great modern-day radio interviewers: Brian “The Grandmaster” Lehrer of NPR in New York, and Brent Bambury of the CBC. You can listen to them here:
Brian Lehrer
Brent Bambury

Lastly: Turkey!

Can somebody please bring me to Istanbul? (Just putting it out there.)