What do you think?
Rate this book
Secrets of the Centenarians: What is it Like to Live for a Century and Which of Us Will Survive to Find Out?
In October 1995, a blind, deaf, French grandmother broke a world record. Jeanne Calment became, so far as we know, the oldest human being who has ever lived when she reached the age of 120 years and 238 days. She went on to survive for nearly three more years—dying in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days. On the long journey to her record-breaking age, Madame Calment acquired more and more company. The United States today has more centenarians than any other country, and they are the fastest-growing section of the population, with at least fourteen times as many centenarians as there were sixty years ago. Secrets of the Centenarians delves into the intriguing background of this incredible increase.
In the book, John Withington explores the factors that determine who among us will reach one hundred and who will not. Is it determined by lifestyle or by genetics or by geography? Why do women outnumber men so heavily among centenarians? What kind of life can you expect if you reach one hundred? Is surviving that long a blessing or a curse? Withington answers these questions and more, along the way telling stories of celebrity centenarians like the comedians Bob Hope and George Burns, songwriter Irving Berlin, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Britain’s Queen Mother, and the scientist who invented LSD. Finally, Withington explores whether—even if the number of centenarians keeps increasing—there remains a maximum life span beyond which we cannot survive.
Thoughtful, well-researched, and highly entertaining, Secrets of the Centenarians reveals some of the most intriguing secrets of growing older.
In the book, John Withington explores the factors that determine who among us will reach one hundred and who will not. Is it determined by lifestyle or by genetics or by geography? Why do women outnumber men so heavily among centenarians? What kind of life can you expect if you reach one hundred? Is surviving that long a blessing or a curse? Withington answers these questions and more, along the way telling stories of celebrity centenarians like the comedians Bob Hope and George Burns, songwriter Irving Berlin, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Britain’s Queen Mother, and the scientist who invented LSD. Finally, Withington explores whether—even if the number of centenarians keeps increasing—there remains a maximum life span beyond which we cannot survive.
Thoughtful, well-researched, and highly entertaining, Secrets of the Centenarians reveals some of the most intriguing secrets of growing older.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published November 15, 2017
1 person is currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
John Withington
10 books1 followerJohn Wihtington is a television producer and writer, Among his television credits are 'Royal London' (LWT), 'From Marx to the Market' (BBC2) and 'Global Gamble' (Channel 4). He writes regularly for newspapers and magazines and the author of Shutdown, a book about the effects of shipyard closures on Teesside.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 14, 2020
This was the 1000 name, date, circumstances of recorded/ documentation required cases for long life - over 100 years of age individuals non-fiction opinion and fact extravaganza. It's long eyes to world-wide and gender related "chances" of this occurrence and the reaction to it different places at that. It also generalizes far more than the most "woke" agenda driven would ever consider "valid". Gender categorization is not fluid. XX is female. XY chromosomes are male.
I thought it was nearly 4 stars. Especially when it got very particular about certain areas of Japan, Sicily, Sardinia, Middle East, etc. areas of the world where there seems to be a higher percentage of individuals who live past 100 or even 110 years of age. They seem to have mountain, high altitude life as part of this factor.
But it was extremely interesting in the past women/men ratio. Especially for up to about 1750 AD or so. Women always, on average, had shorter lifespans because of the deaths during the child bearing years. At times, the average women's lifespan was about 33. While the men's was in the late 40's. Now it is the opposite gender gap and has been solidly since antibiotics and better OB/GYN practices.
I also liked the chapters on celebs with this record and voices to others who have reached oldest status of 114 or 116 years of age. So many seemed to have the no smoke, no drink message. But definitely not all of them. Also some ate meat like crazy and others not at all.
This book is an IMMENSE window into the eyes of what civilization has wrought in regards to physical success for life of over 100 years. You were ancient at 50 and very, very rarely got there before any period of merely 1000 years ago. It didn't happen by accident either how homo sapiens doubled the average lifespan, at least. Innovation, invention, science in the western civilization sense, business/trade- also had HUMONGOUS input into global life expectancy. But there are still many places in the world that have 30 or 40 year average lifespans. Most of them have humongous infant death rates too.
There are still 105 male babies conceived for every 100 female. The after 80 year old crowd has been vastly different in proportion of this ratio in varying eras since 1500. Now the females are in great majority for the longevity groups. Over 100 years old crowd- about 7 female to 1 male.
Many accepted data records are included that I knew before. Like the fact that unmarried men do much worse than married men. Everywhere. Loved reading about George Burns and Bob Hope. No shabby lives for that length either.
I thought it was nearly 4 stars. Especially when it got very particular about certain areas of Japan, Sicily, Sardinia, Middle East, etc. areas of the world where there seems to be a higher percentage of individuals who live past 100 or even 110 years of age. They seem to have mountain, high altitude life as part of this factor.
But it was extremely interesting in the past women/men ratio. Especially for up to about 1750 AD or so. Women always, on average, had shorter lifespans because of the deaths during the child bearing years. At times, the average women's lifespan was about 33. While the men's was in the late 40's. Now it is the opposite gender gap and has been solidly since antibiotics and better OB/GYN practices.
I also liked the chapters on celebs with this record and voices to others who have reached oldest status of 114 or 116 years of age. So many seemed to have the no smoke, no drink message. But definitely not all of them. Also some ate meat like crazy and others not at all.
This book is an IMMENSE window into the eyes of what civilization has wrought in regards to physical success for life of over 100 years. You were ancient at 50 and very, very rarely got there before any period of merely 1000 years ago. It didn't happen by accident either how homo sapiens doubled the average lifespan, at least. Innovation, invention, science in the western civilization sense, business/trade- also had HUMONGOUS input into global life expectancy. But there are still many places in the world that have 30 or 40 year average lifespans. Most of them have humongous infant death rates too.
There are still 105 male babies conceived for every 100 female. The after 80 year old crowd has been vastly different in proportion of this ratio in varying eras since 1500. Now the females are in great majority for the longevity groups. Over 100 years old crowd- about 7 female to 1 male.
Many accepted data records are included that I knew before. Like the fact that unmarried men do much worse than married men. Everywhere. Loved reading about George Burns and Bob Hope. No shabby lives for that length either.
Displaying 1 of 1 review