Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential at Any Age

Rating:
Summary: Pssst! Hey Buddy - Want to Live to be 100?
Review: Actually, the idea of living to 100 never seemed appealing to me -- until I read about these active, vital centenarians. Like the nun's study (Aging with Grace), this is a hopeful, optimistic book. Some make it to 100 -- others don't. But following the advice in this book will give you the best possible chance of making it with a sound mind and sound body.

A fun read, a "feel-good" book.

Rating:
Summary: Pssst! Hey Buddy - Want to Live to be 100?
Review: Actually, the idea of living to 100 never seemed appealing to me -- until I read about these active, vital centenarians. Like the nun's study (Aging with Grace), this is a hopeful, optimistic book. Some make it to 100 -- others don't. But following the advice in this book will give you the best possible chance of making it with a sound mind and sound body.

A fun read, a "feel-good" book.

Rating:
Summary: The previous review by Jason Taylor couldn't be more wrong
Review: Book review of "Living to 100: Lessons in Living to Your Maximum Potential Age"

When, less than an hour ago, this book arrived, I was excited because it's authors interviewed over 100 centenarians to find out what they did to make it that far. So I had hoped there would be something truly useful: information about what foods they ate. You see, if you take a large enough sample of objects in which each object's properties is a smooth function of several random variables, the variables upon which each object's properties primarily depend can be easily picked out just by looking at just the similarities between the extreme objects. In English: each extremely long lived person must have been on a longevity diet, of had longevity genes, _and_ of lived a longevity lifestyle. I can't change my genes, don't want to change my personality/driving habits, and already think I know nearly everything about exercise, so the one thing I wanted to learn from this book was what type of diets the centenarians ate. Unfortunately, it wasn't in this book. Instead, there are lots of pictures of old people doing things like playing golf. I learned nothing new.

The only thing I could find was on page 59:

"One of our centenarians had been eating bacon and three eggs every day for breakfast for 15 years. Had he survived so long in spite of or because of this diet? Other centenarians swore by dietary concoctions they had invented, such as James Hanlon's breakfast combination of oatmeal, olive oil, raisins, apples, and other fruits. There was no rhyme or reason to the results we saw."

But the real truth is that these authors simply were too narrow-minded and lazy to ask questions about what the centenarians used to eat. They didn't obtain the relevant data but formed a conclusion anyways. A classic example of bad science that looks good on paper.

What is most pathetic is that they actually did perform a limited survey using an inappropriate questionnaire which only asked what the centenarians are eating right now. About the questionnaire, they write (on page 58),

"After looking at responses from only 20 centenarians, it was clear that studying self-reported diet would not prove fruitful for several reasons. In the first place, we were interested in the conditions that allowed people to live to 100---what they were doing once they arrived at that age was often a different story. Many of our subjects had lost their robust appetites, and were no longer consuming full diets. We found a number of centenarians with deficiencies in important nutrients. They had to some extent migrated away from their lifelong dietary habits, and those potentially health-sustaining practices were the ones that interested us."

I agree with them that the questionnaire they used was stupid. But to then say that lifespan is independent of diet is in blatant contradiction with the scientific method. (In fact the above supports the theory of calorie restriction.) It's like saying that because it is relatively difficult in studies about heart disease to measure the saturated fat to poly-unsaturated fat ratio in diets that heart disease is not a function of it.

Their attitude is summed up on page 118 in this blatantly ridiculous paragraph:

"Newspapers and magazines are full of fountain of youth prescriptions: hormones, extracts of ginkgo and garlic, yogurt. Fruit flies don't take any of these nostrums. Their variation in longevity did not appear to be linked to differences in diet or environment."

Regardless of his opinions on calorie restriction, I think Doug Skrecky (along with 100's of others) has shown that the opposite is true. If you are 60 and want to feel inspired about being active while old, read this book. You can have my copy. If, on the other hand, you hate fluff, don't waste your time with this book.

Jason A. Taylor, Ph.D.

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Summary: Boston Herald Review by Michael Lasalandra
Review: Perls imparts wisdom for living to a ripe old age

Want to know how to live to a ripe old age? Dr. Thomas Perls' new book, ``Living to 100'' is about as good a guide as you are likely to find.

Perls, a geriatrician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, has been studying centenarians for years. This book, written with Margery Hutter Silver and John F. Lauerman, summarizes Perls' work and offers tips on how anyone can increase his or her odds on making it to a very old age.

It turns out living to the century mark isn't as rare as one might think. There are currently more than 50,000 centenarians in the United States, three times the number 20 years ago. You will meet a number of them in this remarkable book.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Perls' centenarians is their astoundingly good health. Perls says he suspected these survivors would be a hardy bunch. But that turned out to be an understatement.

Take Tom Spear, who is profiled in the book, for example. He is still playing 18 holes of golf three times a week at the age of 102 and shooting 15 strokes under his age. He hits his 3-wood up to 180 yards! And he's not all that unusual among his centenarian peers. Perls' work with the New England Centenarian Study found that growing old doesn't necessarily mean growing sicker.

``Our eyes told us that the oldest old were sometimes among our healthiest patients,'' he writes. ``Perhaps rather than having survived disease, centenarians were more likely to have avoided the chronic and acute diseases associated with aging in order to live to 100.''

Good genes help, of course. Yes, most of his centenarians were born with genes that helped them reach the century mark. These genes may help them avoid the chronic diseases associated with aging.

But does this mean that until gene therapy is perfected it is useless to adopt healthy lifestyles that may help us live longer and healthier lives?

No, Perls concludes. Rather, he urges people to look into their family histories, determine whether their ancestors lived beyond average life expectancy, find the causes of death and disability and make intelligent choices about how they can delay or even prevent the diseases that killed or disabled their predecessors.

``People with an optimal combination of genes that affect aging can probably afford to relax and indulge themselves a bit,'' Perls writes.

`But those who have family histories of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes and other afflictions should begin doing what they can now to compress inevitable illness into a small percentage of what could possibly be a long life.''

How?

By taking vitamins, minerals and antioxidants; performing mental exercises to keep the brain sharp; getting regular exercise; reducing stress; eating a healthy diet; not smoking; keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol under control; taking an aspirin a day; and, for women, considering estrogen replacement therapy.

The book gives specific recommendations for all of these items and more.

It also includes a test you can take to determine just how long you are likely to live.

Perls, however, derides those who claim to practice ``anti-aging''medicine. Those who boast unproven hormonal supplements and other expensive treatments to supposedly delay the aging process are nothing but hucksters, he says.

``All these quick fixes . . . are sold on the premise that they provide the benefits of a healthy lifestyle with none of the work,'' he writes. ``In fact, compressing morbidity may require some of us to make drastic changes in the way we live. Living to be a centenarian takes 100 years of effort.''

Rating:
Summary: Living long ... living well
Review: There's something oddly fascinating about centenarians ... or at least about the idea of living to a hundred. Part of it is our obvious fascination with round numbers (don't get me started on when the millenium hits) but more than that, these are people who have lived a century. When they were born, cars were a novelty, electricity a rumour and the computer undreamt-of. Unfortunately, even as the idea of living fascinates, it repels, because we see the journey as inevitably leading to physical and mental decay. Heck, the word "senility", which comes from the word meaning "old" is virtually a synonym for dementia. Just five years ago, a Canadian report suggested mental decline was the inevitable result of living so long. We just aren't cut out to live that long ... and if we do, we'll suffer for it. But do we need to? Not according to this book, which provides a wealth of information about people who have lived to be 100, and who are still fit and functioning.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This book is fascinating due, in part, to the many anecdotes about actual centenarians. The sub-title, Living to your maximum potential at any age, is exactly what this book is about. While genes, lifestyle choices, diet, activity, etc, certainly can contribute to living to 100, the author shows that there is no sure-fire way to become a centenarian, but we all can take a lesson from those who have made it that far--live life and live it well. A very informative and fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: This book is fascinating due, in part, to the many anecdotes about actual centenarians. The sub-title, Living to your maximum potential at any age, is exactly what this book is about. While genes, lifestyle choices, diet, activity, etc, certainly can contribute to living to 100, the author shows that there is no sure-fire way to become a centenarian, but we all can take a lesson from those who have made it that far--live life and live it well. A very informative and fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring, educational, instructional.
Review: This book taught me that living long is a function of many factors, namely one's physical, social, mental, and spiritual health. Some of the factors are totally out of our control such as the genes we are born with and the time period and location we are born into. Also, I learned that longevity and quality of life go hand in hand. For example, a person who smokes heavily all their life not only will die sooner but suffer less enjoyable health in the mean time. This book provides a profound understanding of the factors that determine our well-being and makes a great guide to improving our well-being. I also found it engaging to read. Few of us can make it to 100 or beyond, but by emulating those who have, we can live longer, better lives. It must be nice to live to see your great-grandchildren graduate college and get married and everything.

Also recommended: "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Dr. Stephen Covey, also a great guidebook for improvement.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring, educational, instructional.
Review: This book taught me that living long is a function of many factors, namely one's physical, social, mental, and spiritual health. Some of the factors are totally out of our control such as the genes we are born with and the time period and location we are born into. Also, I learned that longevity and quality of life go hand in hand. For example, a person who smokes heavily all their life not only will die sooner but suffer less enjoyable health in the mean time. This book provides a profound understanding of the factors that determine our well-being and makes a great guide to improving our well-being. I also found it engaging to read. Few of us can make it to 100 or beyond, but by emulating those who have, we can live longer, better lives. It must be nice to live to see your great-grandchildren graduate college and get married and everything.

Also recommended: "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Dr. Stephen Covey, also a great guidebook for improvement.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic stuff
Review: This was easily one of the best books I've ever read. The best part was this: there are no magic cures, no miracle herbs, no eternal elixers to living to a "ripe old age." This book paints a realistic picture of aging, namely: how old you lives will depend mostly on genetics, and the best we can do is maximize our genetic potential by doing a few smart, common-sense things. And then the authors give us those things. I have changed my life to incorporate what I can to maximize my potential, and I'll go from there. What else could you ask for?