The big 100 The new world of super-aging

William J. Kole

Book - 2023

"In The Big 100, journalist William J. Kole tackles the pressing questions of our super-aging future and offers an encouraging view of the reality that awaits us, our children, and our grandchildren. Countering a forbidding bleakness with profound policy, societal, and lifestyle solutions, The Big 100 flashes the brightness of a future few thought possible. New member of AARP and grandson of a centenarian, Kole explores the looming era of longevity through the lens of past, present, and future life at ages 50, 65, 80, and 100-plus. With longer lifespans overall, by 2034 the United States will have more seniors than youth for the first time in history. By 2050, the world's centenarian population will increase eightfold. Half of tod...ay's five-year-olds can expect to join them thanks to astonishing scientific advances against killers like cancer and cardiovascular disease. It's going to upend health care, personal finance, retirement, politics and more. Whether we're 18 or 81, this tectonic demographic shift will affect us all. Along the way, there are fascinating sources, like Dr. Jane Goodall, longevity expert Dr. Thomas Perls, and 112-year-old supercentenarian Herlda Senhouse. There are surprises, including the truth about the 'Blue Zones' everyone thinks are centenarian factories. (Spoiler alert: They're not.) And there's longevity's overwhelming whiteness, a product of 'weathering': the theory that minorities' health begins to deteriorate early as a physical consequence of systemic racism. What will happen to us when 65 is merely a life half-lived? Travel to the new world of super-aging in The Big 100 to find out."--Dust jacket. more