The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study

This was an easy read of 248pp. It concerned a continuation of a longitudinal study first begun by Dr. Lewis Terman of Stanford Univ. in 1921. Termin died in 1958 and the authors continued with their interpretation of his original study. The original group of subjects were chosen for what Termin considered to be their high IQ's and they numbered 1548 being born circa 1910.The text is filled with numerous abbreviated self-assessment questionnaires to give the reader an idea of what the original subjects had to answer. I found the book generally informative and definitely written for the lay person, but also somewhat subjective in many of the conclusions reached. The trouble with all self-assessment questionnaires is that they are biased in giving the view of the assessee, rather than an outside observer.The main idea behind the book is that there is no one particular thing that leads to longevity, but that it is simply a result of some genetics modified by lifestyle choices which are less challenging than those dangerous decisions made by some living closer to the edge [as choosing to smoke or use illicit drugs]. In other words, it was the totality of things done during a lifetime rather than anyone thing that might cause someone to live to be a hundred.The authors determined that the best CHILDHOOD PREDICTOR of longevity was CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, the trait of being dependable and following through on life goals, as they defined it. They also felt that good health leads to happiness and longevity rather than happiness leading to good health.Here is a partial list of some things the authors felt were true:1. Although breast feeding is good for the baby's health it does not of itself lead to a longer lifespan.2. Divorce by parents while the subject was a child was the leading indicator of a shortened lifespan.3. Starting school before the age of 6 or learning to read before starting school was detrimental to a long life. I disagree but this a a subjective opinion on my part.4. Women who had a higher frequency of achieving orgasm during sex tended to live longer than their less fulfilled sisters. At least we can assume they were happier if not longer lived.5. It was the happiness of the man in a marriage that predicted the couple's later health. That would seem to be somewhat contradicted by the previous point.6. Playing with pets did not lead to a longer life. Again, I would disagree.7. Both more masculinized males and females as measured by the self assessment scales tended to die sooner than their respective more feminized cohorts.8. Being married to the same person for a long time [however, one might define that] benefited males as far as longevity, but added little or nothing to the lifespan of the female partner.The book was enjoyable and very easy to read and understand whether one agrees with all the points or not, so I would suggest reading it and then deciding for yourself how you feel about the many items discussed.

This was a massive effort by a number of skilled and dedicated researchers written up in detail. So why do I feel cheated?In spite of huge amounts of data, only interpretations of it were passed on to us. We are repeatedly told "many" or "some" or "other participants" or... Every page has one or more such imprecise words but we are not given even simple percentages. Is "many" 52% or 89%, or what? It would have been so easy to specify. I can think of no good reason not to have given this more precise information to the reader.Next, very little effort was made to help interpret the results of the "tests" we took. Or even to say why not. It sounds like their validity was good. But reliability? If they didn't have decent norms, why give them to us? If they did, why didn't they give us more information, such as intercorrelations or cluster analysis?Then, they sidestepped the issue of gay/straight, by saying Terman stayed away from this. Ah, but they didn't have to. Even with no "hard" data, they might have grouped the "not married" subjects with the converse male/female ratings, done some analyses and made some guesses. And had a second sample of the converse male /female ratings with divorced subjects. This might have been fascinating data. These presumed-subjects preceded gay liberation by many years - what was it like for them in terms of longevity, happiness, etc.? I find it very hard to believe that there weren't any gays in this study, and even a guessed-at small sample, with all the caveats the researchers wanted to add, might have been interesting.The researchers were very bright people; their subjects were top-of-the-line. So why do they write as if the reader hadn't gotten past the 8th grade? While the information is interesting and the researchers were ingenuous in pursuing their hypotheses, I would have preferred a much more sophisticated book; it's telling that the back cover gives "Oprah" as the top reviewer.

This is an interesting read aimed at the average person. It's based on the long-term study of 1500 or so middle-class Americans and the conclusions the authors drew from this study about what characteristics lead to, or at least were present in, those folks who lived the longest. They try to debunk a few probably widely held ideas, e.g. that happy go lucky people necessarily live the longest.As some have pointed out, the authors can be imprecise, e.g. "lots" of folks showed this behavior. Well, what's lots? On the other hand it's not a scientific report. Maybe we don't need to know that 49.8% of the people did or did not do this.But I only gave the book four stars because in quite a few cases I wanted to know a little more about how they drew their conclusions. Once you think you have the answer it's tempting to look for that answer in further data and it seemed like they did that. So I would have liked a little more rigor in the analysis.But I'd buy the book again and would recommend it. Too many books on longevity focus on lists of stuff to do or not do. Or they are heavily pitched toward diet or perhaps exercise and not other issues like social networks. There are a lot of topics discussed here. And they ARE discussed. They don't just SAY it's better to be happily married, they actually discuss it. And why and why it isn't necessarily so.

The study - following from and based on the longitudinal research of Dr. Terman - has a relatively unique dataset of around 1500 participants who were meticulously followed for around 80 years, thereby allowing unprecedented analysis of the influence of lifestyle choices on longevity. Lots of the research going into the study has previously been published in scientific articles and the current book is an attempt to summarize the findings for a wider audience, so as to disseminate the most important information more broadly.Dr. Terman started his research of bright or gifted children from California in the early 1920s, with candidates on average being around 10 years old. These were then followed until the death of Dr. Terman until the 1950s by the original research team and then by several subsequent groups of researchers well past the year 2000.Longitudinal research is relatively rare, as it is both expensive and as it requires a very long term perspective to produce results - not something particularly popular in the current 'publish or perish' academic environment. In order to make the most of it, Dr. Terman tested the participants on the widest possible spectrum of questions, so as to enable the future generations to test this unique database for a variety of effects of lifestyle choices on longevity.The book is significant in that it allows several common sense myths about longevity to be finally laid to rest. Examples being that married people live longer, that one should exercise as vigorously as possible, avoid stress and moderate work, etc.While the content of the research is certainly of impeccable quality, the presentation - here geared towards the broadest possible audience - is less of a success. The authors try to bring the subject closer by presenting results via individual study participants and their experiences. This is certainly easier to read and picture than endless tables of statistical significance of the findings (or the general style of peer reviewed scientific publications) but often creates the impression that their findings are based on a handful of single person cases and thereby not really generally applicable (as pointed out by several reviewers).While this is not the case (and going through some of the sources mentioned at the end of the book will convince you of it) it can be vexing at times and I would personally also have enjoyed more numerical data supporting the findings. The authors also admit that their research primarily accounts for the nurture end of the spectrum, meaning that they are researching behavioural / environmental and not genetic influencers of longevity. This is not a detriment, as we can hardly alter our genetic make-up but certainly are capable of changing our behaviour or environmental effects on us.Be that as it may, the book is certainly good enough to allow you to ask yourself questions about your lifestyle and to make changes which are easier to successfully maintain than the standard short term bouts of dieting and occasional exercising that many do as a result of well intentioned but seldom kept resolutions on a healthier life. As such I can definitely recommend it, even if the readers interested in more detail will be better served by the sources at the back for satisfying their further curiosity.

The factors that make us age can be rather surprising, and this book covers a whole host of things, not necessarily those habits of life that we might expect. Whilst we can't go back and change our childhood experiences, there is sufficient information to encourage one to look at one's current habits (especially sociability) and see how they can be improved, in order to improve life expectancy and quality. A good read, anyway.

Simply the biggest, most rigorously-collected statistical study of longevity I've ever seen. Collating and analysing the data for this must have been a huge task, but what Friedman has ended up with is something truly amazing. A lot of the conclusions the study reveals are not unexpected, but some really are, and I defy anyone to read this book and not be in some way improved by it.

Excellent book, it challenges many of the ideas we have about what helps in living a long, healthy life. I think everyone should read it. The book I received was in excellent condition, thank yoy.

Very good book with pretty surprising insights. Who lives longer the 'Sociable' or less 'Sociable'? The answer will surprise you.All in all a great book and the kind I look for: one that cuts beneath conventional wisdom in which health 'facts' change daily.