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The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest
Summary
Since publishing his bestselling The Blue Zones, longevity expert and National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has discovered a new Blue Zone and launched a major public health initiative to transform cities based on principles from this book. The Blue Zones, Second Edition is completely updated and expands his bestselling classic on longevity, drawing on his research from extraordinarily long-lived communities--Blue Zones--around the globe to highlight the lifestyle, diet, outlook, and stress-coping practices that will add years to your life and life to your years.
The new Blue Zone is Ikaria, Greece, where strong, sweet wine, family, and a Mediterranean diet all play a role in longer life. Also new in this book is a reading group guide, designed for groups to read about, discuss, and implement many of the simple changes advocated for better health.
A long, healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer. Buettner has led teams of researchers across the globe--from Costa Rica to Sardinia, Italy, to Okinawa, Japan and beyond--to uncover the secrets of Blue Zones. He found that the recipe for longevity is deeply intertwined with community, lifestyle, and spirituality. People live longer and healthier by embracing a few simple but powerful habits, and by creating the right community around themselves. In The Blue Zones, Second Edition, Buettner has blended his lifestyle formula with the latest longevity research to inspire lasting, behavioral change and add years to your life.
Region by region, Buettner reveals the "secrets" of longevity through stories of his travels and interviews with some of the most remarkable--and happily long-living people on the planet. It's not coincidence that the way they eat, interact with each other, shed stress, heal themselves, avoid disease, and view their world yield them more good years of life. Buettner's easy to follow "best practices" and list of healthy lifestyle choices from the Blue Zones will empower readers to live longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives.
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Reviews
I received this as an ER copy, and I found this book pretty neat. There are lots of books on how to “expand your youth” but it’s really good to see a book that actually talks to the people who have done so. The book focuses on four distinct and different regions of people who have all lived beyond the average life expectancy (usually 100+). I was glad to see one was in America, even. The book brings to light some hard truths, though. Collectively, as Americans, we are not on our way to being centenarians ourselves with our current lifestyle. Even worse, we are affecting other countries with our bad habits. What I really liked about the book was that it not only told you the behaviors of these people, but how you can apply it to your own life. It really helps put things in perspective. While it’s not the perfect go-to book for how to live your life, it’s certainly a great starting point.
A great balance of fun and heartwarming anecdotes interspersed with data from research and studies.
This was an enjoyable read. Having traveled around the globe more than few times I was always intrigued how certain races or cultures seemed to have the longevity factor far outpacing the normal lifespan. In 'The Blue Zone' you'll find ways to live as much as a decade longer, thereby leding one to live a longer and fuller lifespan. Inside you'll find habits that can and will develop habits to leading a more productive life!
I don't care much about longevity, but this is a book about living well as much as long. The secret? You already knew it. Eat more plants than animals, have a purpose in life each day when you rise, stay socially connected, move your body every day, keep your sense of humor. (There are nine major recommendations in all, with numerous sub-components.)
The authors describe four visits to Okinawa, Sardinia, Loma Linda California (a Seventh Day Adventist community), and Costa Rica, and in each place they visit communities with an unusual number of centenarians. They interview them about their lives, now and in the past, and look at younger people (as in, age 60 and 70) in the community who are living in similar ways.
There are interesting details that emerge in conversations with scientists and anthropologists who provide a guide to each local community. Some communities drink red wine and some do not. One group keeps the Sabbath. Each has some special foods, mugwort, fish oil, whatever. Good genes will get you 25% of the way there too. But from these details the author synthesizes some good general principles that are really as much about living well as living long.
How long we live is really a trivial detail. The goal is not to live long but to live well, and to die quickly when the living is done.
This book is a bit too chatty for my taste. I prefer more science and examples and less detail about the cafe in which the author held a conversation with a local researcher. Nonetheless, you can skim through it and hear some interesting voices and stories of good living -- well worth reading.
The authors describe four visits to Okinawa, Sardinia, Loma Linda California (a Seventh Day Adventist community), and Costa Rica, and in each place they visit communities with an unusual number of centenarians. They interview them about their lives, now and in the past, and look at younger people (as in, age 60 and 70) in the community who are living in similar ways.
There are interesting details that emerge in conversations with scientists and anthropologists who provide a guide to each local community. Some communities drink red wine and some do not. One group keeps the Sabbath. Each has some special foods, mugwort, fish oil, whatever. Good genes will get you 25% of the way there too. But from these details the author synthesizes some good general principles that are really as much about living well as living long.
How long we live is really a trivial detail. The goal is not to live long but to live well, and to die quickly when the living is done.
This book is a bit too chatty for my taste. I prefer more science and examples and less detail about the cafe in which the author held a conversation with a local researcher. Nonetheless, you can skim through it and hear some interesting voices and stories of good living -- well worth reading.
The book differs from the typical fare of longetivity offerings whereby the author has determined that there are specific areas of the world "Blue Zones" where people are known to live significantly longer than the normal life expectancy of an industrialized nation. The book focused on interviewing these octagenarians in there home and seeing what they had in common that distinguished them from other nations. This unique approach was interesting and pointed out a common them. Many of people lead a very simple life. They grow their own food, have deep family roots, work and stay active all their lives and live more or less stress free. While I found this book interesting, anyone that really wants to benefit from the findings can just read the final chapter that tells how to incorporate the findings into your lifestyle. Ultimately, the final rersults are the basis of which all the thousands of health books have in common. Don't smoke, drink in moderation, eat natural foods and exercise. Follow these rules and you can live longer. Unfortunately for us Americans our lifestyles of fast food and high stress work will never let us achieve our optimum life span. If you are interested in longevivity study then you would probably enjoy this book. If not, just read the last chapter if you have the opportunity.
The blue zones: 9 lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest by Dan BuettnerStories of the different areas worldwide and strategies of how the people live with excellent health into triple digits.This book gives you options that you can select how far you want to go to your own longevity.Interesting to learn all the things that do effect our lives...Goat's milk is a food that might help, walk a bunch, whole grains, olive oil, fruits and beans are also clues.The one thing I found was to be with family, grandkids, etc it will keep you on your toes and others younger will look up to you, respect you. It does keep you young.Power naps for 30 mins, herbal teas lower blood pressure. Each of the zones has their own specialty. it's what works for them.Loved hearing how they discover a blue zone-all the numerology involved. I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is well written and reads along at a good pace. I really liked the little side bars that gave useful tips about a particular food that is part of the diet of that particular Blue Zone. I found that I did not have to radically change my diet or routine to be living healthier but improve my health through small adjustments.
Living a healthy life well into your 90's - and possibly your 100's - may be easier than you think. Award-winning author and researcher Dan Buettner has traveled the world to meet the planet's longest-lived people, and learned nine powerful yet simple lessons that could put you on the path to longer life. Where did he find them? In the Blue Zones - Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.
The 2008 version of the book is informative. It has numerous stories of actual centenarians from each of four areas in the world. Readers are introduced to specific individuals and allowed to understand how they have eaten, exercises, and socialized throughout their lives. This helps the reader to better internalize the information being provided. At the end of section, the author lists the locales' customs and traditions that contribute to their longevity, and the science that proves it. However, despite these stories, the human interest connection that the author tries to create is overshadowed by the book's numerous editing errors and the author's commentary that often seems to conclude without conveying a specific point. Unfortunately, both of these problems crop up often enough to detract from the understanding and general enjoyment of the information provided.
This was a very interesting read. I enjoyed hearing the authors experiences of visiting with centenarians. Rather than just plying the readers with data, he did a good job of bringing the individuals and their lifestyles to life. One review of this book that I read gave it a poor rating, as there was no real new or astounding data. I think that was one of the best things about the book. People are always looking for a miracle cure, one magical thing that they can do to live forever. I found it comforting that all of the conclusions they found in studying the people in these Blue Zones are things that we all can do, and things that we pretty much know we should be doing.
I began reading this book thinking that there would be some unified theory based on certain foods. What I found was simple and refreshing. I feel that the researchers were able to come up with a unified theory on best practices. There is certainly an interest in developing awareness around what we put into our bodies. This book gives added perspective of culture, ancestry and environment.
Loved it. Will try to implement some of the things described in the book into my life as much as possible. Some of them I already do - like eating a lot of bitter melon :), and my love of walking...
I read the second editon of this book, which was published in 2012. The author, a writer for National Geographic, tells of his visits to Sardinia, Okinawa, Loma Linda, CA, Costa Rica, and the island of Ikaris, Greece, where he and his fellow researchers interviewed the many 100-year-olds living in those places in an effort to see why they were able to live so long. He spends a lot of time on their diet but also empasizes their non-fast-paced style of living. Many of their lives do not seem too interesting but they are satisfied and they live longer than people who live more exciting lives. Anybody can pick up some hints as to what might one live longer. I liked the fact that there was emphasis on eating nuts regularly. Since I for some years have eaten 16 almonds every day, I took a little satisfaction in learning about that. There are lots more interesting things one can learn from this book, written of course in Natioal Geographic prose.
A great philosophy on living life healthier and longer, Dan Buettner's Blue Zone something that everyone concerned about aging in modern society should take a look at. Learn from the places on the Earth where people live the longest how they do it - what makes them tick so long.
Its a pity many of the Blue Zones (high life expectancy areas) are disappearing due to the expansion of western ideas - except for the Blue Zone in the US (the Adventists). Many common themes come out of each of the Blue Zones and these are summarised in the 9 factors that lead to a long life. Hard physical work apparently doesn't kill you.You can log onto BlueZones.com to take a longevity survey. Funnily enough the site mentions consuming fish which is not one of the 9 findings.Recommended reading.
I think, this is one of the books that changed the way I live.
Don't waist your time. All you would listen here, you already know, and at last there are some advertising about books and other products.