On September 18th, C-Span2′s BookTV filmed Jonathan Weiner as he spoke about his new book at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.

Watch it here.

Assuming that you remained healthy—imagine the vitality of a 30-year-old—would you want to live for 200, 500, or 1,000 years? Sloane Crosley, bestselling author of I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number, isn’t so sure. (Video courtesy of ReadRollShow.)

What might the world look like if scientists succeed in finding a cure for aging? Author Aimee Bender imagined such a scenario ten years ago, through the eyes of the father in her first novel, An Invisible Sign of My Own.

“So,” begins Bender’s story. “There was this kingdom once where everybody lived forever. They’d discovered the secret of eternal life, and because of that, there were no cemeteries, no hospitals, no funeral parlors, no books in the bookstore about death and grieving. Instead, the bookstore was full of pamphlets about how to be a righteous citizen without fear of an afterlife.”

Here Bender reads the prologue in its entirety, describing a kingdom with a radical approach to the overpopulation that comes from no one dying. (Video courtesy of ReadRollShow.)

Jenn Northington of breathe books in Baltimore considers the potential for extraordinarily long life spans in light of a loved one’s recent health scare.

Visit the breathe books Facebook page between July 26th and 30th as Jenn and breathe’s proprietress Susan Weis facilitate a discussion of Long for This World.

“The earth, I’m guessing, would not become overpopulated because by then we would have technology to live under water maybe, possibly to live in the air.”

“I work with the elderly. I work in a skilled nursing facility, and I see a lot of people at end of life. And I think unless you’re exposed to that there’s this perception that it’s this horrible, horrific thing. Nobody wants to live out their years in a nursing home. Nobody wants to grow old. They kind of ignore it and pretend it’s not going to happen to them. They block it out. It’s not…

“It’s kind of a natural progression of things. You think these people have a poor quality of life, and granted some do, but, you know, it’s all a part of the cycle. A lot of these people have so much wisdom and so much skill to give to our generation. And they’re happy and they’re comfortable and they’re at peace with where they are right now.

“So, no. For me, no. I want to grow old.”