Imperial, California - Web columnist Drew Magary's first novel, Postmortal, has caused a stir at Sioux City's Morningside College encouraging students to take a long, hard look at the prospect of ageing, says the Association of Mature American Citizens.

At first glance, the book appears to be a dark work of science fiction, but the plot is really an examination of life choices, according to the Sioux City Journal.  The paper says it's the story of new drug, a single dose of which stops biological aging at the cellular level.

Incoming freshmen at Morningside were given copies of the tome and asked to read it before starting school this fall, at which time there'll be a class discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of "living forever."  It's very thought-provoking, said one student who has read the book.  "The college years are when we all try to figure out what we want to do for the rest of our lives," he said.  "Upon graduation, we can use our education to achieve our dream or we can stagnate.  It's all up to us."