Secrets of the Centenarians
What is it Like to Live for a Century and Which of Us Will Survive to Find Out?
Distributed for Reaktion Books
256 pages
|
50 halftones
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6 x 9
- Contents
- Review Quotes
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
1 Nasty, Brutish and Short
2 Explosion!
3 It’s a Woman’s World
4 The Record-breakers
5 Celebrity Centenarians
6 Who Will Survive to 100?
7 The Lives of 100-year-olds
8 Location, Location!
9 IS There a Limit to Our Lives?
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
1 Nasty, Brutish and Short
2 Explosion!
3 It’s a Woman’s World
4 The Record-breakers
5 Celebrity Centenarians
6 Who Will Survive to 100?
7 The Lives of 100-year-olds
8 Location, Location!
9 IS There a Limit to Our Lives?
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
Review Quotes
Publishers Weekly
“Enjoyable and well written. . . . Using a journalistic tone, Withington looks at the history of exceptional human longevity, from Biblical oldster Methuselah to Britain’s celebrity fogey of the seventeenth century, Thomas Parr, before moving onto the recent surge, relatively speaking, in centenarians. . . . Filled with interesting facts and lively characters."
Sarah Murdoch | Toronto Star
"Withington has been gathering research about centenarians since 1984, when he spearheaded a current-affairs series on 100-somethings for Britain’s ITV network. Today, this long-lived cohort is the fastest-growing segment of the population and will likely remain so for years to come. Along with wisdom on how to live a long life, Secrets looks at 'blue zones,' global hot spots with a disproportionate number of centenarians; the upper limits of longevity; and a good overview of research on living a long life."
Oldie
"The general dos and don’ts are: don’t smoke, don’t become obese, don’t be grumpy; and do eat a moderate diet, do be open to new interests later in life, do be positive and do do lots of walking. These and many other factors—and, interestingly, some complete exceptions to these rules—are examined in Secrets of the Centenarians. . . . Real food for thought on a subject that must be of interest to us all."
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