The storied realms of exceptional longevity are scrutinized in this volume. The vast majority of reputed centenarians in the past, and most countries even today, lived less than 100 years. On the other hand, the number of genuine longlivers is exploding and a substantial proportion of current newborns in developed countries may survive to celebrate their 100th birthday. Extremely few of our grandparents endured a century but centenarians may be commonplace among our grandchildren.
This volume explains and documents these assertions, with research that melds judicious scepticism and painstaking scholarship with intellectual excitement about the advaning frontier of survival.
“By cleverly focusing the analysis on those reaching the frontiers of age, the investigators have produced a valuable monograph at the frontier of mortality analysis.”
Samuel H. Preston, University of Pennsylvania
