Before you is a book covering half a century of scientific life. The most interesting cultural memories resurrect little-known pages of the history of our country. Vladimir Nikolaevich Anisimov talks about his professional and personal development: how he aspired to become a doctor, studied at a medical school, then at the First Leningrad Medical Institute, how he defended his candidate and doctoral dissertations, but at the same time traveled to virgin lands and to construction brigades. This book is an example of a good memoir. It will be of interest to a wide range of readers looking for a true story about the Soviet era. But the book is especially useful for future doctors and scientists: many situations described by the author have pedagogical significance. The technological revolution taking place before our eyes in molecular biology and the deciphering of the genome of organisms that differ significantly in life expectancy open up new opportunities both for studying the genetic basis of longevity and for developing means to prevent premature aging and improve the quality of life of older people. Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences. Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, President of the Gerontological Society V. N. Anisimov develops the idea that longevity depends not only on the genes that fate has given us, but also on our own choice of lifestyle.