Just a day after the season finale, ABC announced that Forever wouldn’t get a second season. This surprised a lot of people, including its many fans and its star, Ioan Gruffudd. In fact, Gruffudd penned a heartfelt letter to fans of the show, explaining his disappointment in the decision and bidding farewell on a positive note. The show that follows an immortal doctor’s trials and tribultaions – whose father, played by the always excellent Judd Hirsch, fittingly own an antique store – turned out to be anything but “immortal.”
But as Gruffudd says, “life is like that.” He described this as his “dream role” and to have it taken away must’ve hurt. It hurt the fans, too. No more Dr. Henry Morgan?! Maybe another network will save Forever but in the meantime, while we hope against hope, here are three books that will allow us to comfort ourselves. Hey, there are some pretty cool books about the subject!
Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How it Drives Civilization by Stephen Cave (Crown, 2012)
Is it really possible to live forever? Do we even want to? Either way, the idea of defying our own death will always be attractive to mortals. This book centers on the mountaintop metaphor: The Immortals are up there and humanity, since the dawn of time, has been trying to scale that mountain. Historical, metaphysical, scientific and philosophical, it’s a journey well worth taking for those intrigued by the subject. And really, who isn’t?
The Book of Immortality: The Science, Belief, and Magic Behind Living Forever by Adam Leith Gollner (Scribner, 2014)
The author was raised without religion and he was surprised at mankind’s constant efforts to cheat aging and death. So, he meets those who believe in immortality; he goes around the world and visits individuals who believe in everything from legitimate religion to cults and folklore. There’s a magician in the Bahamas who says he has found “a liquid that reverses genes,” and what about cryonics? Living forever is an intriguing pursuit, regardless of your influences.
The Immortality Game by Ted Cross (Breakwater Harbor Books, 2014)
It’s the year 2138. The world is trying to recover from a total societal collapse and Zoya ekes out a living by prepping corpses for funerals. Then, she witnesses her brother’s murder and finds herself on the run from ruthless mobsters. She only has two possible weapons found in a mysterious package, and one of them might just be the key to everlasting life. An adventure with science fiction and philosophical elements, this one should be great for those who miss Forever‘s concept.
