Review: Healthy at 100

For a book that has a number of case studies covering populations that live to great ages without deterioration in eyesight there was a certain irony in finding this in the large print section of my local library.

Robbins starts by detailing the long-lived populations of Abkhasia, Vilcabambra, Hunza and Okinawa and then the latter part of the book tries to pull out the lessons learnt of how to live long and healthy life.

Diet wise there weren't many surprises there (although I suspect his advice would be out of vogue with paleo and low carb enthusiasts).  Similarly, the recommendations around exercise and movement will hardly come as a surprise.  But he was possibly ahead of the curve in terms of what he has to say around purpose, community and sharing.

Lastly, he finishes with a pragmatic reminder that even if you follow all of the recommendations there are no guarantees and that coming to terms to with grief, suffering and the value of being mindful of our death.

The one really interesting thing I learned was that bonobos - a primate species closely related to us and chimpanzees - are rather more collaborative, empathic and social than chimps.  Robbins contends, and it's probably a bit of stretch, that is a better model for us to follow than the more competitive societies of chimpanzees.

I also rather liked the Gandhi quote:

"Live simply so others may simply live".

Verdict: I personally didn't gain much new insight from this, but as an introduction to increasing health span it has a lot of value.